Both St Kilda and Collingwood were coming off consecutive VFL Grand final defeats: the Magpies in 1964 against Melbourne and the Saints after losing the previous year to Essendon. In a thrilling finish to the home-and-away season, Collingwood finished minor premiers after easily beating Footscray at Victoria Park, while St Kilda, Geelong, Essendon and Richmond fought for the remaining three qualifying spots. St Kilda managed to hold on to second place in a thrilling contest against Hawthorn at Moorabbin, while Geelong and Essendon also won their games, which meant that Richmond would miss the finals despite its big win over Fitzroy.
Twenty-five minutes into the final quarter and with scores level, Collingwood's Wayne Richardson had a shot at goal on the run but kicked it out of bounds on the full. St Kilda then began to work the ball out of defence after winning the boundary throw-in. A kick from Ian Cooper saw the ball make its way to centre half-forward. Collingwood defender Ted Potter failed to mark the ball low down, and with the players scrummaging for the ball, a bounce was called. Brian Mynott won the tap for the Saints, but it was intercepted by Potter, who was quickly tackled. Potter, however, managed to get out a handball, but it found its way to St Kilda's Barry Breen, who snapped at goal and kicked a behind to put his side in front. With about a minute left on the clock, Collingwood were able to work the ball towards their forward line. St Kilda's Bob Murray, however, was able to take a mark at centre half-back, and the siren sounded after he kicked the ball towards the wing. St Kilda had held on to win by one point.
One of the timekeepers was an avid St Kilda fan and blew the final siren for more than ten seconds.[2]
After the game, the players swapped guernseys, which was a tradition at the time for grand finals. There is an infamous photo of St Kilda captain Darrel Baldock swapping guernseys with Collingwood captain Des Tuddenham.[3] Later versions of the photo would be doctored to show Baldock and Tuddenham wearing their own guernseys.[4]Ian Synman was the only St Kilda player not to swap his jumper with a Collingwood opponent.[3]
According to Peter Clark of The Footy Almanac, St Kilda's Ian Cooper was best on ground.[5]
