The match was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the capacity of which was reduced owing to construction work on the new northern grandstand ahead of the 2006 Commonwealth Games, resulting in the attendance being 77,671.

Grand Final.”[3] Jonathan Brown did not train with the Brisbane Lions players in their warm-up, but he did take to the field at the start of the game.

At this point, a vicious brawl broke out between Brisbane full forward Alistair Lynch and Port Adelaide defender Darryl Wakelin; immediately after, Lynch limped off the ground under the blood rule, but also having torn his quadriceps earlier in the quarter, and he played very little part in the rest of the game.

General play started to favour the Lions, but the Lions fell down in the forward line, kicking 0.4 (4) from several chances in the first ten minutes of the quarter; while Port Adelaide capitalised on a reversed free kick against Jason Akermanis in Brisbane's forward line to rebound the length of the ground, finishing with a goal against the run of play to Pickett, extending the Port Adelaide advantage to 19 points.

In the critical opening of the final quarter, Port Adelaide struck quickly, Gavin Wanganeen roving at full forward after Shaun Burgoyne created a turnover to kick his third goal in the second minute; and then Wanganeen again in the sixth minute to kick his fourth goal from 45m in general play.

At this stage, Port Adelaide led by 29 points, having kicked six goals – four by Wanganeen – inside fifteen minutes either side of three quarter time.

[6] Following the match, Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams was quite animated, his celebrations including a speech on the dais in which he uttered the now-famous words "Allan Scott – you were wrong!

Williams also made a mock choking gesture by holding his tie above his head like a noose as he stepped onto the arena, a reference to the breaking of Port Adelaide's reputation as "chokers" – which had been acquired after having losing in the previous two finals series, despite dominating the home-and-away seasons in those years.

[7] Byron Pickett, a premiership-winning defender with North Melbourne in 1999, turned into a match-winning on-baller for the Power, and he capped his day with being awarded the Norm Smith Medal for being judged the best player afield.

Alastair Lynch was reported several times for his fight with Darryl Wakelin, and was ultimately suspended for 10 weeks and fined $15,000 – although, as he retired after the game, he did not end up serving the suspension.

Lynch later noted that he mentally snapped after having injured his quad early in the game, and that his poor spectacle remains one of his greatest career regrets.