AGAINST St Kilda in round one, with 33 seconds to go, Geelong's Mitch Duncan kicked the ball forward.
It landed and broke left. It then bounced backwards away from St Kilda defender Sean Dempster's grasp before landing in Geelong forward Cameron Mooney's hands.
The Cats veteran popped a handball over the top to substitute Darren Milburn, who kicked the goal to give Geelong the lead with just 24 seconds to play.
A cruel bounce had denied the Saints the 2010 premiership. In 2011, in virtually the same spot as the ball landed that fateful last Saturday in September, another twist and turn of the footy had cost the Saints. This time four points and momentum was lost.
From that moment on, the season has been alive.
Geelong remains undefeated after 10 games, never giving up, winning games it had little right to win yet, through persistence and effort, earning four points each week.
In remaining unbeaten in his first 10 matches as coach, coach Chris Scott has equalled the English-born Johnny Leonard's long-standing record, set at South Melbourne in 1932.
The Cats also set a new mark for most consecutive wins at a venue, with 26 on the trot at Skilled Stadium.
The impact of the sub rule - a rule David Parkin declared pre-season to be the biggest change to the game in 20 years - has been debated ad nauseam, with the impact still unclear.
The coaches and conditioners' workload has increased, extra time being dedicated to solving both the selection and fitness dilemmas it presents.
Players are feeling more fatigued, with resting players a necessary luxury for leading clubs.
Premiership favourite Collingwood even sent players overseas to Arizona this week for a mid-season recovery, while the Cats have had only four players (Jimmy Bartel, Joel Corey, James Kelly and Travis Varcoe) play every game this season.
On the field, stoppages are increasing, but most watchers seem to think space is opening up late in games (the average score in last quarters is 48 points, compared to 46 points in the first and third, and 44 points in the second).
Western Bulldogs captain Matthew Boyd suggested this week on One Week at a Time a player's top speed was being reduced.
Long kicks have increased (from an average of 46.5 a team each game to 54.5), more likely as a way of breaking the forward press and moving the ball quickly inside 50, than as a result of the sub rule.
As a consequence, the value of the big-marking forward has increased, with contested marks up on last season (12.5 from 11.5 per team per game). Ruckmen need to go forward to avoid becoming redundant, while many big forwards double in the ruck.
Tackles inside 50 have remained static at 11 a game. That's an interesting statistic, given that talking about the effectiveness of the forward press is as common as stock advice during a bull market.
Perhaps the rising tackle numbers overall are a result of congested stoppages, with the long kick making it more difficult to pin players in space.
Stoppages are up on average, but the increase is due to the rise in the number of throw-ins a game (36 to 42) as teams hug the boundary, willing to thump it out of bounds and reset.
In the battle of risk versus consequence (or reward), the option of going up the line is often better than trying to pinpoint a target through the middle.
We saw three draws in the first three rounds and 10 games decided by less than seven points.
We've seen the highest opening quarter in AFL history (Essendon's 15.4 (94) against Gold Coast), identical twins coaching against each other for the first time (the Scott brothers, Brad and Chris, coached in the North Melbourne and Geelong game in round seven).
West Coast's Josh Kennedy kicked 10 goals in a game, just the eighth individual since 2000 to reach double figures, one of 271 instances where the haul has been achieved since 1897.
Collingwood kicked 11 goals in a quarter (against Adelaide); it was just the third time a team coached by Mick Malthouse has kicked that many goals in a term.
Gold Coast won its first AFL game, defeating Port Adelaide in round five.
And there are still 121 games to go.
Average per team per game
2010 2011
Long kicks 46.1 54.5
Contested marks 11.5 12.5
Inside 50s 50.1 52.2
Throw-ins 36 42
Tackles inside 50 11 11
