NICK Riewoldt is the most important player who will take to the field on grand final day.

From either side.

For St Kilda, it is simple - the big blonde needs to fire up, or they can't win.

Perversely, it's not quite as easy for Collingwood, as they can't afford to concentrate entirely on the 27-year-old, but there's no doubt that both sides will have Riewoldt at the centre of their planning.

No other player will have more work go into giving him the chances he needs to do his stuff, or into preventing him from having the opportunity.

The big strength for both sides is their evenness, but one player stands out, and it's Riewoldt.

I'm looking forward to going to the game and not commentating, because that means I can watch what I want to watch. And I want to watch him. He's an out-and-out champion, and to see how he goes about it on the biggest stage will be worth it alone.

There isn't a single match-up for him in the Magpies outfit, or even in the league - there's no one who can go with him all day. Harry Taylor found that out in the first final when Nick just blew him up.

But Collingwood has made the right call in bringing back the grand old man of their backline - Simon Prestigiacomo.

I know he hasn't played since mid-August, but he's been their best out-and-out stopper for over a decade, and in the big moments, he's the man.

Presti's instructions have to be to forget about getting the ball and just stop Riewoldt giving the Saints the chance to win. Given that's what he's done very well for his whole career, that shouldn't be too surprising for him.

But there's no way Presti can go with him all day, so the others will all have to have a shot. Ben Reid, Nick Maxwell, Harry O'Brien will all have to have a turn while Presti is having a break.

That's one of the strengths of Collingwood in defence, that they're so even - really well balanced, really quick, and they're all really good one-on-one.

People will say that O'Brien is too loose to play the role of Presti replacement, but it's just something he will have to focus on, and be the more attacking defender when he's not on Rooey.

People talk about all the things that happened in last year's grand final, but a story that hasn't got much airtime is that Riewoldt tore the adductor muscle in his hip during the week.

While he'll never talk about it, as late as Thursday in grand final week he wasn't going to play because they couldn't get him right. They were doing trial injections to try to hit the spot, and at best he was 50-50, so his preparation could not have been any worse. Then the conditions were against him.

He doesn't have that issue this year. I wrote a couple of weeks ago about how the hamstring-enforced break had allowed him to be peaking at exactly the right time of the year. He's had four games this year where he's had 20 or more possessions, and two of them have been St Kilda's two finals.

I just thought what he did after half time last week was extraordinary. The Bulldogs had structured up really well and were really limiting his opportunities. So at the long break, who do you reckon Ross Lyon was turning to? Yep, just one man. And he came out and blew the game apart in 10 minutes in the third term.

Even then, that was after being knocked senseless when Kosi collected him, but you could see him just will his way back in, and in another 15 minutes the game was over. That's why Collingwood will be putting so much effort into him.

He has to play a great grand final to give the Saints a chance of winning.

The weather is a massive factor. The Saints are praying for a hard, fast surface with no rain, because that suits them perfectly. That's what gives the forwards the best chance.

In the last two years, the Saints are 11-2 against the other three top sides in Collingwood, Geelong and the Western Bulldogs. Why? Because they've got what everyone wants - a superstar forward.

If you were building a side from scratch, as good as Gary Ablett and Dane Swan and Chris Judd are, you'd pick Nick Riewoldt.

But having said all that, I'm still tipping Collingwood. I'll tip them by four points, because I don't think it'll be a blowout, but I still think they'll do it.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.