In round 14, 2009, an Australian Football League home-and-away match was played between and at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne on 5 July 2009. Both clubs entered the match undefeated with 13–0 records for the year. St Kilda won the classic, close encounter by six points, with ruckman Michael Gardiner kicking the winning goal inside the final two minutes. The attendance of 54,444 stands as the highest ever at Etihad Stadium for an Australian rules football match, and the match is considered one of the best home-and-away matches in the league's history. Background In the 2009 AFL season, and were the two dominant clubs by a considerable margin. The only home-and-away match between the two was scheduled for round 14, by which time both clubs were undefeated with 13–0 records and four wins ahead of third place. Undefeated teams had never previously played each other so late in a VFL/AFL season, the previous latest being in round 8, 1991 between two 6–0 teams. The match was one of the most heavily promoted home-and-away games in the league's history. The game held greater contextual significance than just the teams' undefeated records: Geelong and St Kilda were two of the era's best teams at the peaks of their abilities, and were separately dominating with their own revolutionary styles of play: was in its tenth year under coach Mark Thompson. It had been the pre-eminent team since 2007, and had won 55 of its last 58 matches including the 2007 premiership. Geelong had perfected a style of high-possession football, studded with star midfielders adept at running, carrying and executing chains of handpasses through the corridor of the ground, and it was consistently setting new league records for its high disposal counts. It was also routinely recording more handpasses than kicks; no team had ever previously done this successfully – having fewer kicks than handpasses was previously seen as a statistical marker of a struggling team – but Geelong had adapted the novel style into an attacking weapon which had made it into the league's highest scoring team. It had a forward-line built on a mix of star goalsneaks and capable key position players, and had some of the league's best key defenders. was in its third year under coach Ross Lyon, and after reaching three preliminary finals in the previous five years was enjoying a break-out season. Its success was built on full team