It was the 74th annual grand final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1971 VFL season.

The match, attended 118,192 spectators, was won by Hawthorn by a margin of 7 points, marking that club's second premiership.

St Kilda, after this loss, defeated Richmond by 30 points in the preliminary final to match up with Hawthorn in the premiership decider.

Hawthorn started well with star full forward Peter Hudson kicking two goals early in the term.

Les Hawken who had a fitness test earlier in the week hurt his ankle again after a clash with Carl Ditterich and was replaced by Ken Beck.

The rain was relentless and Peter Crimmins kicked an early goal, Murray was replaced by Stephen Rae and Hawthorn's Robert Day was crunched by Neil Besanko in a marking contest.

After another long arm-wrestle Don Scott gathers the ball at half forward and a mongrel kick rolls through for Hawthorn's 10th goal.

Goals to St Kilda's Allan Davis and Barry Breen reduced the final margin to seven points.

Late in the game he had a set shot on goal to break the record but kicked the ball into the man on the mark, Barry Lawrence.