That's the view of Todd Viney, like Stynes a first year player with the Demons in 1987 and now the club's head of player development.
It was Stynes, who by running across the man on the mark in the dying seconds of the match, gifted Hawthorn forward Gary Buckenara the 15-metre penalty that brought him close enough to kick the match winning goal that afternoon at VFL Park.
Melbourne led Hawthorn all day, but Buckenara's goal after the final siren gave the Hawks a two-point win.
"I think it had a profound effect on Jimmy," said Viney of Stynes, who died in March after a long battle with cancer.
"He was a really proud guy and he made strides after this to become a valuable player. It could have broken him but I think it helped turn him into the player he was and the man he became."
Viney said infamy followed Stynes for a time after the match such as being stopped on a train in Paris and being asked whether he was the player who ran over the mark.
"But he came back with a steely resolve to become a great player and to make amends. It wasn't his fault we didn't make it (the 1987 Grand Final)."
Stynes would go on to win the 1991 Brownlow Medal and would play 244 consecutive games for the Demons - easily breaking the AFL record.
He would later return to the Demons as president and oversaw the fund-raising campaign that eradicated the club's debt.
Viney was interviewed for an oral history of the 1987 preliminary final, which features in this weekend's AFL Record. Among the several Hawthorn players to talk was Buckenara, who explains whether he was really going for goal before Stynes conceded the 15-metre penalty.
And Hawthorn teammate (now AFL commissioner) Chris Langford said he knew the Demons were rattled and the Hawks still in with a chance of an unlikely win when the Demons missed a series of gettable shots late in the final quarter that would have sealed the win for Melbourne, who had won six straight games to make the finals and were hoping to farewell club champion Robert Flower with a Grand Final appearance.
"I thought they got themselves in a knot and they didn't want to win it," Langford said.
"They were arguing with each other and bagging the umpire. We were the ones up against it but they were making silly mistakes."
Hawthorn would lose the Grand Final to Carlton the next week by 33 points. It was a day so hot that even Hawk skipper Michael Tuck departed from tradition and wore a sleeveless jumper.
You can follow AFL Media senior writer Ashley Browne on Twitter @afl_hashbrowne.
