Geelong are the 2009 AFL premiers, with a 12-point win over St Kilda in one of the most tightly contested grand finals in the game’s history.

Geelong got off to a strong start with a quick couple of goals, but St Kilda managed to dominate the powerful Cats for most of the first half, at times doubling their inside 50 and possession stats.

A packed crowd of almost 100,000 defied the cold, cloud, rain and hail and turned out to cheer on their sides.

A few wasted opportunities by St Kilda allowed Geelong to get a quick few goals on the scoreboard – including the one by Tom Hawkins which hit the post, but was awarded a goal in a sloppy decision by the umpire.

The game was no stranger to controversy.  Following Justin Koschitzke’s opportunistic goal for the Saints, Cats’ Darren Milburn was penalised for abusing the goal umpire, which allowed the Saints to put another goal on the scoreboard.

Brownlow medalist and Geelong superstar Gary Ablett was sensational, and contributed enormously to the Cats’ midfield clearances.

St Kilda skipper and full forward Nick Riewoldt was kept quiet for most of the game, with a strong Geelong defence managing to keep the ball away from him.

In the end, Geelong were able to break away from the midfield for a goal – all thanks to a skillful Gary Ablett to claim victory.

The final siren hailed Geelong the 2009 premiers.

The Norm Smith medal was awarded to Paul Chapman for being the best and fairest on ground.

For a more comprehensive review of the 2009 Grand Final, watch this space in the coming days for upstart’s finals correspondent Ben Waterworth‘s review.

But we might give him a couple of days to recover… After all, he is a Geelong supporter.

What did you think of the Grand Final?  Comment below.