Football legend Ron Barassi has refuted the popular belief that his order for players to handball at all costs was the key to Carlton's amazing 1970 VFL grand final win over Collingwood.

At a function to mark the 40th anniversary of the Blues' triumph, Barassi said there were any number of factors responsible for one of the most remarkable comebacks in the sport's history.

Carlton trailed by 44 points at halftime, but booted seven goals in 13 third-quarter minutes to put themselves back into a game they went on to win.

But Barassi said suggestions the match was "the birth of modern football" because it helped popularise handball as one of the game's most important weapons was wide of the mark.

He said his team's discipline in following instructions, the decision to introduce four-goal hero Ted Hopkins as 19th man, and their will to win and momentum were just as important as the move to frequently handball.

"It wasn't the birth of modern football. Handball as an attacking weapon was started by a guy called Len Smith who coached at Fitzroy - he's the father of modern football," Barassi said.

"We were a handball team all that year. It was a lot of things (that won the game), it wasn't just handball.

"We had some ideas. We worked on it and got it right."

Carlton 1970 premiership player Robert Walls, who eventually went on to coach the club to a flag, said Barassi's move to introduce Hopkins was brave and pivotal.

"It was a bold move by a coach to do that - in those days there was no interchange," Walls said.

"Teddy came on at halftime, kicked the four goals and gave us a bit of spark."

"We had confidence in ourselves we could get out of any situation.

"It's a great lesson in football - you're never beaten."

The Blues' 1970 team reunited ahead of Sunday's Carlton-Collingwood AFL clash at the MCG - the function raising money for the Richard Pratt Fellowship for prostate cancer research.

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