At the conclusion of the regular home-and-away season, North Melbourne had finished on top of the VFL ladder with 16 wins and 6 losses.

North Melbourne went into the game without a number of players from the previous season's premiership victory – star full-back David Dench, who had injured his knee in Round 3, ruckman Peter Keenan, who had received a two-match suspension for striking Hawthorn captain Don Scott in the last quarter of the semi-final,[1] and injured utilities Steven Icke and Brent Crosswell.

Besides the loss of Keenan, Icke and Crosswell before the match, North lost Malcolm Blight early with a torn groin muscle after just five minutes, and Stan Alves also limped off in the second quarter.

The Kangaroos' loss represented another instance in which the team which had finished first at the end of the home and away season lost the Grand Final.

It would take another 18 years for North Melbourne to appear in another premiership decider, when it defeated the Sydney Swans in the 1996 AFL Grand Final.