It was the 89th annual grand final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1985 VFL season.

The match, attended by 100,042 spectators, was won by Essendon by a margin of 78 points, marking that club's 14th premiership victory.

Forward Dermott Brereton starred for the Hawks with eight goals, the most ever in a losing grand final side (a record that stood until Gary Ablett's current record of nine goals in Geelong's losing 1989 VFL Grand Final against Hawthorn).

Brereton was also reported three times in the game: he received a four match suspension for rough conduct and two counts of striking arising from the brawl.

Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy said after the game to his players "It took you five years to play four quarters of football, but I'm patient.