A sense of déjà vu was in the air in the first quarter at the MCG today, with Collingwood's more attuned opening, cleaner disposal and greater numbers at the ball early. The Saints were immediately under pressure, Collingwood were far more aware and sharper - witness Dawes' two excellent early tap-ons - the first of which would have resulted in the opening goal, but for an infraction by Dane Swan up the ground; and the second of which did.

The Saints defenders were doing too much work in the Grand Final replay already, Sam Gilbert was once again exposed on his right foot and although Harry O'Brien did not grab the opportunity and put his ensuing shot out on the full, a sense of doubt must have assailed Saints fans early. Nine minutes in and the haloed ones had yet to take the ball inside 50; and what was worse, they were under-represented at every contest and due to Collingwood's pressure, repeatedly asking too much of one another in even routine linking by both foot and hand.

A pattern was being set early in the match, of the Saints consistently kicking to two-on-ones: Schneider to Riewoldt, Gwilt to Gilbert, who was lucky to concede only a point, to be 14-0 down and already floundering. A good buildup to Riewoldt was spoiled by a superb chase by Heath Shaw, and a golden opportunity for a settling goal had been lost - already, to a neutral watcher, it didn't look good. Riewoldt had not been told loudly enough that he had a chaser.

Shortly after, Gram was unlucky in a marking attempt and the Saints conceded a goalsquare goal to Macaffer, who was already worrying them with his ability to get on his own. The poor field kicking continued by the Saints, and when late in the first stanza Gilbert released Riewoldt running inside 50, with time to balance, and only a behind resulted, the Pies were dominating. At quarter-time, Saints fans might have been reassuring themselves with the thought that they had come back from a slow start a week ago to get on to even terms - but the real question was, why did they have to?

Collingwood was dominating, having many more numbers at the fall of the ball and spreading far too quickly having won it. The Saints needed a good start to the second quarter and nearly had it, when Gilbert ran inside 50 with a great chance that was wasted for a point. Right away Milne fed Gilbert with another straightforward chance which was also sprayed: from the restart, the same player was too slow to offload, putting Riewoldt under too much pressure, and the ball was run over the line: from the throw in, Ball whipped it to Blair, who saw in an instant that Didak had got in behind the defence and set him up: the goal made it 26-4 and for me, the déjà vu hit again.

Suddenly it was 20 years earlier to the day, when on a similarly splendid spring day, at almost the identical point in the game, a sickening stab of premonition down my spine told me that Essendon was about to lose a Grand Final to Collingwood. The same moment had arrived for the Saints, confirmed when Peake again set Gilbert free, only for his poster to make three minors for the quarter. You could not question the big Queenslander's workrate, but such profligacy loses Grand Finals.

A goal to Goddard from a free that was borderline but present made it 26-13, but that tally flattered the Saints hugely. Pendlebury and Thomas and Sidebottom were racking up big and telling amounts of disposal for the Magpies, and ominously for the Saints, Collingwood's prime mover Swan had hardly featured, with just four possessions mid-second-quarter. Saints such as Jones, Ray, Baker and McQualter were fumbling regularly, while Collingwood were much cleaner below the knees; and the St Kilda field-kicking had not improved. Another poor decision from Peake, to square it long to McEvoy when he had Montagna short, saw the ball bounce to Jolly, who dodged and slipped it to Macaffer for his second easy major from the goalsquare.

Nearing halftime the impressive Sidebottom wheeled around on the left and speared a pass to Jolly, who wobbled a goal through to make it 40-13. McEvoy's inability to follow Jolly down inside the 50 stood as a summation of St Kilda's day. A must-kick set-shot from Schneider on the siren was not, and the Saints were staring down the barrel. They had controlled possession early in the second quarter, but one goal was not enough reward.

Collingwood was well on top at half-time, with Pendlebury, Thomas and Sidebottom dominant, but with Magpie winners all over the ground. St Kilda's sloppy field kicking was providing Collingwood with ample rebounding opportunities, and despite a typical warrior's effort from Brendon Goddard, the Saints' heartbeat was flatlining. Even his fellow chieftain Hayes was finding himself unable to will back the black-and-white tide.

Coming back from half-time the Saints needed to make an early statement and 14 seconds in, they got the chance; but Schneider hit the post from a Riewoldt handball. Collingwood were not about to take their foot from the Saints' throat after that, and with Dawes hacking a goal out of mid-air and Wellingham roving a ruck contest and sprinting through non-existent tackling pressure to goal, they were pulling away. Epitomising St Kilda's day, Ray cleared the ball to nowhere and O'Brien beat Peake to it - Ray simply couldn't kick it to his teammate's advantage - and Swan got on the end of the long bomb to goal. When Blake tried ponderously to clear on his weak left side, Didak not only smothered the ball, he bent back a miraculous (for anyone else) right-footed goal, and at 67-21, it was goodnight.

Goals to Hayes and Gilbert gave the Saints some glimmer of a chance, but when Hayes belted it deep into attack, Riewoldt and Koschitzke simply didn't do enough, and it was cleared without protest by the Saints. St Kilda desperately needed another goal, and yes, the kick wasn't to their advantage, but the effort was simply not desperate enough for the Saints - especially when compared to the way the Pie forwards presented and worked and applied second and third efforts, all day.

Koschitzke reached the nadir of a dirty day early in the fourth when he ran under the ball in the defensive 50 and dropped a mark when he had no-one near him: Collingwood whipped it out to Dawes, who goaled. However, Saints fans thinking that was the team's low point were to be disappointed almost immediately, when Blake, thinking he was about to collide with Gwilt, had an air-jump at the ball, with the predictable result being a Thomas goal from the goalsquare, with the Saints again not desperate enough to smother. Whereupon Joffa put on his jacket and all interest vanished from the match for those not burdened with the Collingwood curse.

Like most people who don't barrack for Collingwood, I "hate" them in the traditional manner, which of course means respect them as a formidable competitor. The tribal hatred of my youth began to dissipate when they very generously let me train with their Under-19 side for a year (because my country club was zoned to them); and now, all I can do as a football lover is admire the club for what it has achieved. I don't like that bollocks about training in Arizona, I groan with everyone else at Eddie's shameless promotion, but looking at them enjoying the spoils of victory, I thought, who could begrudge them this? Malthouse is evidently a magnificent mentor of men, and the leader of a tip-top staff. The list the club has assembled, the pick-ups such as Leigh Brown, Luke Ball and Darren Jolly, the honesty of the effort demanded of and (usually) received from the entire 22, the style of play, the silk of Pendlebury, Didak, Sidebottom and Thomas, the wholeheartedness of Reid, Nathan Brown, O'Brien, Toovey, Johnson and Goldsack, the prove-everyone-wrong dynamism of Jarryd Blair, no-fuss-do-my-job constant presentation of Chris Dawes, the leadership of Nick Maxwell - it all coalesced into a perfect storm on that one day in October, and the Saints couldn't go with it.

The depth of Collingwood was never better displayed than today, with a beautifully even spread of contributions - in contrast with the Saints, whose bottom six went missing in action, and several of whose better-credentialled players - notably Koschitzke, Milne and Montagna - had very bad days. Once again Milne found that the party-trick days at Etihad are little consolation in the emotional wasteland of an irrecoverable Grand Final.

Collingwood was the best team throughout the year. The Saints played wonderful football to earn another crack at them after being jumped in the first Grand Final, but sadly for their supporters, found themselves jumped again. That speaks volumes for Collingwood's ability to prepare itself and hit the ground in the biggest of games in prime mental and physical condition. My game notes bewailed constant St Kilda disposal errors - over two weeks - but why is that? The Saints players are very highly skilled footballers: quite simply, the reason is the unrelenting level of intense pressure Collingwood applied. More often than not this season, Collingwood brought its A-game onto the field, and running at full capacity from the outset. It is high-pressure football - with and without the ball - and it is why the black-and-white army tonight is lauding 22 deserving premiership players.