The match, attended by a capacity crowd of 100,024 spectators, was won by Collingwood by a margin of four points, marking the club's sixteenth VFL/AFL premiership and tying the record held jointly by Carlton and Essendon.

[1] They finished the season on top of the ladder in 2023 with an 18–5 win–loss record to claim the minor premiership for the twentieth time.

[7] Brisbane also came into the 2023 season after a 2022 preliminary final loss, in their case being comprehensively beaten by eventual premiers Geelong by 71 points.

[19][20] The staging and production for Kiss was purportedly the biggest at an Australian sporting event ever outside of the Olympics and Commonwealth Games.

Kiss's performance was generally well received by fans and critics, which included hits "I Was Made for Lovin' You", "Shout It Out Loud" and "Rock and Roll All Nite", although broadcaster Channel 7 was criticised for inadvertently cutting away from the guitar smash at the end of Kiss's set.

[22][23] The half-time show featured Mark Seymour & The Undertow as well as Australian singer Kate Miller-Heidke, who, prior to the match, also performed the national anthem.

[20] All times are in Australian Eastern Standard Time (GMT +10) As their respective premiership cup ambassadors, Collingwood chose Peter Moore, the 1979 Brownlow Medalist with the club, while Brisbane chose Leigh Matthews, who coached the club to its three-peat from 2001 to 2003.

[30] Nick Daicos scored the opening goal for Collingwood in the 5th minute after receiving a free kick after being tackled high by Ryan Lester.

[31] Collingwood won the ensuing centre clearance, with Beau McCreery passing to Bobby Hill on the lead, who took a mark and kicked a goal.

[34] It was ultimately the end of Murphy's AFL career; he remained with Collingwood through the off-season, but medically retired early in the 2024 season without playing another game due to his concussion history.

[32] With eleven goals kicked in a high-scoring quarter which lasted 35½ minutes, Collingwood led 9.9 (63) to Brisbane 9.3 (57) at half-time.

[33][30] After the high-scoring spectacle of the first half, both teams tightened up defensively and played a more cautious kick-and-mark game, resulting in lower scoring.

Collingwood responded with two goals in the next minute of game time to take a ten-point lead: first, Collingwood won the ensuing centre clearance forward, which ended with De Goey kicking a goal on the run from 50 metres in the 21st minute; then, after the subsequent broken centre clearance ended with a mark to Steele Sidebottom on the wing and a 50-metre penalty against Jarrod Berry for dragging him down after the mark, Sidebottom kicked a set shot goal from 50 metres out.

[32] With 4½ minutes of game time remaining and leading by ten points, Collingwood went into defensive mode and began clock management.

[37] Brisbane won the ensuing centre clearance; and, with 79 seconds remaining, Lachie Neale received a free kick 60 metres from goal, but a quick advantage was controversially paid as Bailey scrubbed a kick inside 50 from the continuous play, resulting in a turnover, and the opportunity was lost.

[39] Despite the close scoreline, Collingwood overall had the better of the game, winning several key statistical match-ups, including disposals (340–308), inside-50s (57–43), scoring shots (30–21), marks inside-50 (12–5), and tackles (73–53).

[44] The Norm Smith Medal was won by Collingwood small forward Bobby Hill, who was a unanimous choice for best on ground by the voting panel.

Hill kicked a career-best 4.2 with one goal assist from 18 disposals and six marks inside-50, including a memorable speckie in the second quarter, and he was a constant attacking threat for Collingwood.

[53] The match was commentated by James Brayshaw, Brian Taylor, Luke Hodge, Matthew Richardson, Abbey Holmes and Patrick Dangerfield.

[54][55][56] Fox Footy's coverage, simulcast on Kayo Sports, began at 9 am with the annual North Melbourne Grand Final Breakfast.