St Kilda set aside a tumultuous week and a controversial AFL off-season, beating Collingwood by one point in their round-one NAB Cup match.

Former Saint Luke Ball was among the Magpies' best as they stormed home, but Adam Schneider kicked the last goal of the match with 28 seconds left to give his team the win, 2.13.4 (100) to 1.13.12 (99).

Collingwood defender Harry O'Brien was best afield, while Saints captain Nick Riewoldt led superbly with four goals.

Ball was the focus of attention in this match after his controversial exit from the Saints at the end of last season.

While Ball said there were no hard feelings, Riewoldt and coach Ross Lyon have made it clear they feel Ball walked out on the club.

Ball had a brief push-and-shove with Riewoldt in the second term.

Apart from gifting a goal to the Saints in the same quarter with a bad handball, Ball was high among Collingwood's best with 22 disposals.

The crowd noise was noticeable whenever Ball had possession, especially when he marked and goalled at the start of the final quarter to reduce the margin to four points.

"He's always a mate of mine, he's a Collingwood player now, that's how it is," Riewoldt said post-match.

Fellow high-profile Collingwood recruit, former Sydney ruckman Darren Jolly, looked solid and kicked two goals, one a nine-pointer.

The Saints have not enjoyed a good off-season, with the controversy over Ball and their disastrous decision to trade for former Essendon onballer Andrew Lovett.

St Kilda sacked Lovett this week, a day after he was charged with rape, without him playing a game for them.

The Magpies recruited Ball as a bargain-basement pick at No.30 in the national draft.

Collingwood were 43 points down at 10 minutes into the third quarter before they nearly snatched the game from the Saints.

When Paul Medhurst put the Magpies in front with a goal at the 21st minute mark in the final term, it was the first time they had led since seven minutes into the first quarter.

A series of AC/DC concerts roughed up the southern end of the playing surface.

While that end of the ground certainly looked the worse for wear, players did not seem to have any trouble keeping their feet.

But Riewoldt was unimpressed with the state of the turf.

When asked about avoiding a trip to Alice Springs next week as the losing side in this match, he replied: "the oval there might be in better condition than the one here."

The game attracted a crowd of 29,801, while across town only 15,538 attended the Australia-West Indies one dayer at the MCG.

The Saints were missing nine players, including Ball, from the side that lost last year's grand final to Geelong.

Assistant coach Leigh Tudor, who was in charge for this match, was particularly pleased with the performances of younger players such as Alistair Smith and Rhys Stanley.

"We're absolutely rapt, they've done an enormous amount of work over the last year and even the year before," Tudor said.

"It's a great position for the supporters and the club to have, with guys who look like they can get a kick at AFL level.

"It puts the pressure on the older guys ... you have to play well to hold your spot." Another of the Saints' young players, Jack Steven, had to come off with a mid-foot sprain.

Tudor also said the Etihad Stadium surface looked worse than how it played.

"There were no problems from our guys, our guys haven't mentioned it at all," he said.

Magpies assistant Gavin Brown, who also was head coach for the night, was left lamenting a rusty start.

He was pleased with how the players brought themselves back into the game, but a solid defensive effort was let down with a bad mistake in the last minute.

Saint David Armitage had a tough shot from 50m out when he spotted Schneider on his own, only 30m from goal.

Schneider took an easy mark and then kicked the match winner.

It was the end of a great match for Schneider, who had 21 touches in the midfield and kicked three goals, one of them a nine-pointer.

Asked about Schneider being left alone so close to goal, Brown replied: "that's what we spent a fair bit of time just then talking about.

"It was really disappointing ... to actually fight back after being reactive in the first half, fight back (to be) in a position to win the game, and then ... to have a gaping hole like that where Schneider just walks in and takes a mark," Brown said.

"It's disappointing to lose games, but when you lose them like that, there's a bit of soul-searching.

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