In contrast, North Melbourne had contested the previous three premiership deciders, winning the 1975 VFL grand final but finishing runners-up in 1974 and 1976.

"[3] He also bemoaned the fact that Carman would not play due to suspension, calling him "probably the most spectacular player in the VFL" and believing that his presence would have added an extra layer of excitement.

Worryingly, power restrictions imposed by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria in response to a strike by 2,300 maintenance workers in the Latrobe Valley almost put the plans for the live telecast in jeopardy.

North Melbourne scored the first goal of the game seven minutes into the opening quarter through acting captain and full-back David Dench, who had followed the play downfield.

The Kangaroos added a second goal a few minutes later when Phil Baker gathered the ball as it spilled behind a pack contest, finishing off a fine sequence of play which had started with Frank Gumbleton deep in defence.

From the first bounce, the ball was driven quickly into Collingwood's attack by Andrew Ireland and Anderson, who passed towards star forward Peter Moore.

Five minutes later, the margin was reduced to six points when North Melbourne's defenders were unable to intercept a tricky, bouncing kick into attack by Wearmouth, allowing Rene Kink to run onto the ball and score with a left-footed snap shot.

After another shot on goal hit the post, this time by Dench, the ball went back and forth for several minutes until a long kick into attack from Stan Alves towards Baker was well intercepted by Kevin Worthington, who played on quickly to find Shaw free on the half-back flank.

[10] Barassi made a number of positional changes in an attempt to steal the momentum from Collingwood, the most notable moves being Dench to centre half-forward and Darryl Sutton to full-forward.

He also benched Malcolm Blight, who had been ineffective, and brought on Bill Nettlefold, whose energetic play was an important part of the Kangaroos' comeback.

From the kick-in, the Kangaroos were again able to intercept, but Dench was unable to take full advantage, his rushed kick adding another behind to North Melbourne's score.

At the 14-minute mark, the hard-running Wayne Schimmelbusch outpaced Ireland on the wing to intercept an attempted pass from Billy Picken, kicking North Melbourne back into attack.

Running into the forward pocket, John Byrne gathered the ball as Collingwood defenders fumbled and fell over, kicking towards full-forward where Baker again had found space in the goal square.

Over the next few minutes, both sides missed relatively easy goal-scoring chances from set shots and good opportunities in general play, but when Baker took a strong contested mark and kicked his sixth goal with time-on looming, North Melbourne held a seven-point lead.

Collingwood fought desperately to stay in the game, and, at the 29-minute mark, Moore managed to outpoint Brent Crosswell and gather the ball at the top of the goal square, but his left-foot snap missed.

Hafey's comments to the media summed up how most would have felt about the result: "When the final siren sounds, you are usually up in the air or with your head bowed down... Today I did not know what to do, how to feel or where to look.

Because the under-19s and reserves grand finals had already been staged and decided the previous Saturday, the VFL turned to third- and fourth-placed teams Hawthorn and Richmond to play a challenge match as a curtain-raiser.

[16] The incentives were sufficient for champion full-forward Peter Hudson to fly in from Tasmania (as he had done all season) to represent Hawthorn one last time, while Richmond selected four players from their reserves team which had won the grand final the previous week.

For Richmond, Bruce Monteath kicked six goals, and Bryan Wood, Merv Keane and Graham Gaunt were considered best afield.

Amidst the scrimmage of players, Crosswell managed to soccer the ball through on the goal line, and at the start of time-on North Melbourne held a 21-point lead.

Collingwood replied through Barham, who hit the post from a free kick in the forward pocket, and then scored its first goal of the quarter through Wearmouth, after some loose play from John Cassin.

When Cassin made up for his earlier mistake by snapping North Melbourne's third goal in a row after Picken had lost the ball playing for a free kick, the lead had grown to 36 points.

The rest of the quarter belonged to the Kangaroos; their superb pressure and rebounding from defence resulted in goals to Byrne, Crosswell and Briedis before Anderson revived hope for Collingwood supporters by converting his set shot at the 29-minute mark.

With North Melbourne holding a 25-point lead with over ten minutes remaining, Manassa kicked a memorable goal to narrow the margin to 19 points.

North Melbourne had just added a rushed behind to its score, and Gordon was unable to complete a high mark from the kick-in, but at ground level he was able to tap the ball into the path of oncoming teammate Manassa, who picked up the ball and ran with it down the members wing, taking three bounces, faking a handball to elude an oncoming North Melbourne defender, bouncing one more time before steadying and kicking a goal from angled drop punt from 45 metres, bringing the margin back to 19 points with more than ten minutes remaining.

Briedis was considered best on ground by the football writers from The Age, who used a Brownlow voting system to judge their best player, tallying eight out of a possible nine votes; he had managed to put the previous week's troubles behind him (he registered seven behinds from ten scoring shots), by kicking five goals (the second time he had done so in a grand final for the Kangaroos) and contributing to many more with 30 disposals (19 kicks and 11 handpasses) and nine marks.

Barassi had more contributors, and he exploited the advantage by winning the tactical battle with Hafey, the man who had won their previous two Grand Final clashes before this year.