defense, unrelenting tackle pressure at the ball-carrier and contested ball, a style which Lyon had designed primarily to counter Geelong's high-possession game. St Kilda's 2009 team was arguably the best defensive team of the modern era; it conceded only 64 points per game in the home-and-away season which, as of 2022, remains the lowest by any team in a conventional season since 1966. St Kilda's ball movement tended to be via the wings and flanks rather than the corridor, with a focus on turnover avoidance with ball in hand. It ran a more conventional tall forward-line than Geelong, with keys Nick Riewoldt and Justin Koschitzke near the peaks of their careers. Geelong was a warm favourite in betting markets, attracting odds of $1.50–$1.57 through the week to St Kilda's $2.40–2.50. Betting volumes on the match were lower than typical, and a draw – which was backed in from $51 to $20 and came very close to eventuating – would have been by far the worst result for bookmakers. Match arrangements The match was a St Kilda home game, and was played at its primary home ground, Etihad Stadium. As early as May, the AFL opened negotiations with stadium managers, seeking to relocate the match from Etihad Stadium (capacity 55,000) to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (capacity 100,000), under a seldom-used 'best-fit' policy in place to for the relocation of high-crowd matches. The relationships between the AFL and both stadium managements were strained for unrelated reasons at that time; and ultimately no deal to relocate was reached, since the expense of compensating Etihad Stadium, reticketing the match, and changing signage at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to satisfy Etihad Stadium advertisers, would have resulted in a $250k loss. Tickets to the match sold out by 22 June; it was not a declared event under Victorian anti-scalping laws, and some resold tickets fetched hundreds of dollars. The match was originally scheduled to commence at 2:10pm, with a delayed telecast on the Seven Network to commence at 3pm, which was the standard scheduling for Sunday afternoon matches at the time. There was public demand for a live telecast of the match. For much of broadcast history, it had been the policy to protect gate takings by restricting live VFL/AFL telecasts into the home state unless the match was sold-out; this policy no longer existed in 2009, with the networks having the right to broadcast any