The match, attended by 100,014 spectators, was won by Richmond by a margin of 89 points, marking the club's twelfth VFL/AFL premiership and their second in three seasons.

Richmond's Dustin Martin won the Norm Smith Medal as the player judged best on ground.

Hafey also presented the trophy to Trent Cotchin and Damien Hardwick during the on-field award ceremony.

The opening term of the grand final was a tough and low-scoring battle of attrition, with neither team scoring a goal in the first twenty minutes of the match.

Greater Western Sydney were held to just four behinds in the second term, and the Tigers headed to the halftime break with a 35-point lead.

With the flag under lock and key, the final quarter was a celebration for the Tigers, with Richmond again scoring five goals and conceding only one.

By unanimous selection – 15 out of 15 possible votes – Dustin Martin was awarded his second Norm Smith Medal after having won it in 2017, making him the fourth player to win multiple Norm Smith Medals after Gary Ayres, Andrew McLeod and Luke Hodge.

He was the first player to make his senior debut in a grand final since Keith Batchelor for Collingwood in 1952.

[22] Richmond fielded sixteen of the twenty-two players who had been part of its premiership team in 2017: Pickett, Tom Lynch, Shai Bolton, Ivan Soldo, Jayden Short and Liam Baker were the new players, and Rance, Grigg, Graham, Jacob Townsend, Dan Butler and Kamdyn McIntosh were the six missing.

Greater Western Sydney recalled Toby Greene and Lachie Whitfield, who missed their preliminary final win due to suspension and injury respectively, into their side, with Lachlan Keeffe and Ian Hill omitted to make way.

[23] GWS also was missing former Richmond rising star Brett Deledio, after he had been injured earlier in the finals.