SOMEONE'S heart had to break in the 1997 grand final. St Kilda had one premiership in its history, and that by one point 31 years earlier. Adelaide coach Malcolm Blight had taken his team to a grand final in his first year with the Crows after enduring three losing grand finals in six seasons at Geelong.

All the sentiment — and most of the momentum — was with St Kilda, which had finished top of the ladder and marched into the grand final with authority, disposing of the Brisbane Lions by eight goals to go straight to a preliminary final, then defeating reigning premier North Melbourne by 31 points.

Adelaide, on the other hand, had won its qualifying final easily enough against West Coast before falling in against Geelong (by eight points) in a semi-final and the Western Bulldogs (by just two) in the preliminary. The Crows' top ruckman, Shaun Rehn, who had survived two knee reconstructions, had been playing in a brace that resembled a golf bag. He had thrown it away at half-time in the preliminary final, only to have Tony Modra, the club's talismanic full-forward and the Coleman medallist, go down in a screaming heap with his own serious knee injury.

It all looked to be going St Kilda's way when the Saints — courtesy of three goals in four minutes by Barry Hall early in the second term — led by 13 points at half-time and held sway well into the third quarter.

But Adelaide was building, indeed had been building since midway through the season. At that point, the Crows' fitness adviser, a chap by the name of Neil Craig, had convinced Blight and the rest of the football department that it made sense to take the seemingly radical step of incorporating a month-long bloc of solid, base training as a preparation for a finals' campaign.

The physical impact of the added training load engendered a couple of defeats and when the Crows lost to Essendon in the final round in Mark Harvey's retirement match, the perception of them as a soft club without a soul was reinforced. It should have been dispelled by the comeback from 35 points down at half-time to win the preliminary final against the Bulldogs, but it lingered.

Blight also pulled off a number of innovative moves. Darren Jarman had gone forward in the preliminary final, and did so again. He kicked one of the Crows' six third-quarter goals, and five of their eight in the last.

The coach also pulled off an inspired move with Shane Ellen, a defender who was the unlikely choice to replace Modra. Ellen kicked five goals, emphasising that Adelaide's attacking method was as important as the players who were on the end of it. Troy Bond was another significant scoreboard contributor with four goals.

Adelaide also had Andrew McLeod. Playing in only his third AFL season (the grand final was his 26th game of 1997 and his 60th overall), McLeod accumulated 31 possessions and his run and use of the ball earned him the first of his two Norm Smith Medals. McLeod started in defence but moved to the midfield during the second quarter after Nathan Burke had eclipsed Mark Bickley.

Another man who has become a stalwart of the Adelaide midfield — Simon Goodwin — was also a big contributor, as was David Pittman at centre half-back.

Exciting wingman Aussie Jones was best for St Kilda, along with Burke and Robert Harvey. Sadly for the Saints, it was not enough.