The match, attended by 99,251 spectators, was won by Geelong by a margin of 12 points, marking the club's eighth VFL/AFL premiership victory.

[2] It is remembered as one of the great grand finals in recent memory, due to the closeness of the scoreline, the physical nature of the game and the sheer brilliance of individual efforts from some of its participants.

Geelong had perfected a novel style of high-possession football, studded with star midfielders adept at running, carrying and executing chains of handpasses through the corridor of the ground,[4][5] and it was consistently setting new league records for its high disposal counts.

Its success was built on full team defense, unrelenting tackle pressure at the ball-carrier and contested ball,[8] a style which Lyon had designed primarily to counter Geelong's high-possession game.

Mark Seymour from Australian rock band Hunters and Collectors performed "Holy Grail" on stage, followed by Jimmy Barnes singing "No Second Prize".

The premiership cup was brought onto the field twice: once by captains and administrators from football clubs affected by the 2009 Victorian bushfires, and then later via zip-line by Adelaide Crows champion Mark Ricciuto.

St Kilda opened the second quarter better, and Sean Dempster kicked the first goal of the quarter from a high tackle free kick in the 4th minute; but again the Saints missed several relatively easy shots at goal from Schneider, Milne and McQualter, and after twelve minutes of strong play led by only ten points.

[12] Fifteen seconds of game time later, a clean centre clearance finished with a goal to Paul Chapman, and a 12-point lead to Geelong.

With nine seconds remaining, Justin Koschitzke got his boot to a broken marking contest in the goal square, just eluding the diving hands of Darren Milburn's attempted smother, to tie the scores.

Geelong scored a goal from a Hawkins set shot in the second minute of the final quarter to bring the margin back to a single point.

[15] St Kilda's Zac Dawson had left his opponent Cameron Mooney and run a considerable distance from his own defence[16] and managed to spoil the kick.

[19] After receiving the ball from teammate Shannon Byrnes, Geelong forward Travis Varcoe managed to handball to Chapman, who kicked a left-foot goal past St Kilda's Jason Blake's outstretched hands.

[15][18] Had Dawson's spoil not gone directly to Scarlett, St Kilda had the numbers advantage at the fall of the ball and would likely have been able to go forward into attack themselves.

An after-the-siren goal from Rooke extended the margin to twelve points,[19] and St Kilda was held goalless during the final quarter.

Geelong's Harry Taylor was third, receiving a single set of three votes for his job shutting down St Kilda's Nick Riewoldt.

Geelong's Max Rooke, Gary Ablett, Jr., Jimmy Bartel, Darren Milburn and Joel Corey also polled votes.

Chaired by John Worsfold, the voters and their choices were as follows:[21] Chapman, Rooke, Milburn, Ablett, Bartel and Taylor were all excellent for Geelong.