Can it really be just 16 months ago that Hawthorn and St Kilda were accused of playing out the worst game in the history of the AFL?
If ever proof was needed that while a week in football is a long time, a year can be a lifetime - fast forward from that night in May, 2007 to September 2008 and the Hawks and Saints find themselves opposed in a preliminary final for the right to reach the grand final.
It is a remarkable turnaround and a credit to the development of their respective teams that Saints coach Ross Lyon and Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson have been able to move on and indeed thrive since what Lyon termed the 'shame game' during the week.
The Hawks and Saints are not only one game away from their first grand final appearances since 1991 and 1997 respectively but such has been their improvement that their preliminary final clash this weekend is expected to draw a far larger crowd than what looks set to be a lopsided first preliminary final between Geelong and the Western Bulldogs on Friday night.
While the undersized Bulldogs are virtually given no chance of stopping Geelong's march towards back-to-back flags for the first time since 1952 - the Cats have won 41 of their past 43 matches - there is much to recommend the Saints causing a boilover by beating the second-placed Hawks in the other preliminary final.
Yet who would have thought the Saints - who have won nine of their past 12 matches - and the Hawks - who have won nine of their past 13 - would be meeting on the penultimate day of the season in 2008 following their most recent meeting at the MCG.
The 36,069 fans in attendance that night booed BOTH teams as they left the field at half-time - unheard of previously in an AFL match.
That was because on a fine, if somewhat windy evening, the two teams managed just two goals each in a first half totally devoid of attacking football as both teams played with an extra man in defence - resulting in the ball going back and forth in the middle of the ground between the two attacking zones.
By three-quarter-time just seven goals had been kicked before the Hawks broke the game open with a six-goal final term.
Interestingly that was the Hawks' only win in seven matches against the Saints dating back to 2003 but Lyon believes the past will have little bearing on the outcome of Saturday night's game - the first finals meeting between the two clubs since the 1971 grand final.
"We have all evolved and everyone recognises we have played pretty different footy since the 'shame game' last year," Lyon said of the Hawks and the Saints.
The Hawks go in favourites on the back of being the league's second best-performed team all season behind Geelong while the Bulldogs have also consistently been in the top four this season.
The Saints, in contrast, only grabbed fourth spot with a 108-point massacre of Essendon in the last round but Lyon believes the club is peaking at exactly the right time.
"Clearly there have been three stand-out teams (Geelong, Hawthorn and the Bulldogs) and there was a bit of a gap to the rest but we feel like we are bridging that gap and we