Immediately after the final siren, Collingwood captain Nick Maxwell was livid at the prospect of an AFL grand final replay.

"It's probably going to take this for the AFL to change the rules - it's an absolute joke," he said.

But the two coaches and other players were generally philosophical about Saturday's draw meaning another match next Saturday.

The AFL have already decided that if next week's replay is drawn, it will go to extra time.

The premiership decider is the one AFL finals match where tied scores mean another game.

Replays for all finals were in place until 1990, when eventual premiers Collingwood drew the qualifying final with West Coast.

That forced a review of the rules and the league decided that only a drawn grand final should warrant a replay.

"Instinctively? Yeah, extra time ... but I'm not sure it's the right thing," St Kilda coach Ross Lyon said.

"As I sit here now, it all depends whether you have momentum or not and you're healthy.

"Everyone will have an opinion, I think the financiers are happy we're coming back."

Magpies coach Mick Malthouse said everyone knew before the game what would happen if scores were level.

"It's happened before in grand finals, we've always said the grand final's the one where if it's a draw you play again, so well all know that," he said.

"How often has it happened in AFL history? It hasn't at all. VFL history, but AFL history no, so it's unique and we've got to treat it as such."

Saints defenders Sam Fisher and Sam Gilbert said they were cramping at the end of the game.

"I'd probably prefer to come back next week actually and do it all again," Fisher said.

Collingwood team-mates Dale Thomas and Alan Toovey were in two minds about whether the replay or extra time would have been preferable.

"It's pretty hard having a draw. I think it would be better if we had extra time but I suppose we get another crack at it next week which is the good part about it," Toovey said.

League chief executive Andrew Demetriou said post-match it was too early to say whether the AFL would change the rules in the wake of the draw.

"We have to sit back in the cold light of day and have a look at that," he said.

"Everyone knew going to this game that there's no time on (extra time) in a grand final.

"We certainly didn't expect a draw but it was an unbelievable game."

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