Australian Football League Grand final: West Coast Eagles beat Sydney Swans by a solitary point to win the Australian Rules Grand Final in front of 97,000 spectators at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday.
The Eagles kicked the first three goals and led for all of the game before holding on for a 12-13 (85) to 12-12 (84) decision. It was the first one-point Grand Final since St Kilda won their only title, beating Collingwood, in 1966.
The win by the Perth-based Eagles reversed the result of last year's game between the same teams, when the Kerryman Tadhg Kennelly and the Swans won their first Australian Rules title by four points.
It was the Eagles' third league championship and first in 12 years.
Going into the match, Sydney led the West Coast 3-1 in play-off matches, but three of them were decided by four points or less, and the matches were decided by a total of 11 points.
The last time the teams met - three weeks ago in Perth - Sydney beat the West Coast by one point with a near-identical scoreline, 13-7 (85) to 12-12 (84).
The Eagles led by 16 points after the first quarter on Saturday and 25 at half-time. West Coast led 68 to 43 with 12 minutes left in the third quarter before the Swans began a comeback to pull to within 11 points - 70-59 - going into the final quarter.
The Swans were within one point four times in the last quarter before West Coast held on. The 97,431 spectators at the Melbourne Cricket Ground represented the biggest Grand Final crowd since 1997.
Sydney trailed by seven points 17 minutes into the final quarter when the Swans' Adam Schneider kicked a goal to make the margin just one point.
The two sides then went goal-for-goal for the rest of the match, Adam Hunter kicking the Eagles' last goal to put them seven points up.
Nick Malceski's goal for Sydney with four minutes left again made the margin one point and was the last score of the match. The Swans were unable to kick the one-point "behind" that would have levelled the scores and sent the game into extra time.
Afterwards Swans coach Paul Roos paid a glowing tribute to Kennelly - who lost his father, Tim, earlier this year.
"I wouldn't say Tadhg carried any extra burden - more than his team-mates - going into the game but the memory of his father being here to watch him last year was always going to affect him," Roos said.
"Without his mother being present, he might not have got through the game today, so I am very pleased that she could be here to support him.
"I thought Tadhg had a good game and I've been very proud of his performances all season. He made a mistake in the first quarter, but I was pleased about the way he fought back.
"I told him to keep his chin up afterwards and as a group we can still celebrate the year even though it won't be as much as if we'd won.
"I haven't given up hope that he will stay with us beyond his current contract in 2009 but that is still a long way off.
"To come back and give ourselves a chance to win the game was a tremendous effort. They played better in the first half and we played better in the second half, but I couldn't be more proud or pleased with their efforts."
West Coast midfielder Andrew Embley won the Norm Smith Medal as best player in the match for his 26 disposals, six marks and two goals.
"Last year was so disappointing - we weren't going to let that happen again," said Embley. "We play as a team, we were all in this together.
"To win the Norm Smith is a bonus, to have this (premiership medal), that's something that stays with you for the rest of your life and it will for mine."
SYDNEY SWANS: 1-4, 4-6, 8-11, 12-12 (84). Goals: O'Loughlin 3, Davis 3, Mathews, Roberts-Thomson, Goodes, Schneider, O'Keefe, Malceski.
WEST COAST EAGLES: 4-2, 8-7, 10-10, 12-13 (85). Goals: Lynch 3, Embley 2, Hansen 2, Cousins 2, Judd, Armstrong, Hunter.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)