It was the 26th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1923 VFL season.

The match, attended by 46,566 spectators, was won by Essendon by a margin of 17 points, marking that club's fifth premiership victory.

The match was scheduled to take place a week earlier but was postponed because the ground had been flooded after heavy rain.

Essendon were known at this time as the "Mosquito Fleet" due to their large number of small and pacey players such as Charlie Hardy and George Shorten.

George Rawle made his VFL debut in the Grand Final.