The match, attended by 97,431 spectators, was won by West Coast by a thrilling one point, earning the club its third premiership.

This was the second consecutive year that these two teams played in the premiership decider, with the Swans having won the 2005 AFL Grand Final by a margin of 4 points.

The Red Berets parachuted into the MCG delivering the match balls, followed by a team warm up and the beginning of pre-match entertainment.

The medley of songs they performed included "Solid Rock", Yesterday's Hero", "The Horses", "Everybody Wants to Work" and "I Hear Motion".

They also became the seventh pair of teams in VFL/AFL history (and the second in 2006 after Geelong vs Western Bulldogs) to contest two consecutive one-point games.

The winner of the 2006 Brownlow Medal was Adam Goodes, the Sydney Swans utility who was playing in the grand final later that week.

The grand final parade took place on Friday 29 September 2006 and commenced on St Kilda Road, and ending at Spring Street.

[5][6] This trend was changed, and in the seventeen ensuing seasons since, only two non-Victorian clubs – Sydney in 2012 and West Coast in 2018 – won the premiership.