The Grand Final win against Melbourne was the culmination of the best season by any club in League history.

Essendon won the pre-season cup and then 24 of the next 25 AFL games, remaining on top of the ladder for the entire season.

The club set new records for successive wins (20), wins in a season (24), and its average winning margin of 51 points was also a record.

Bombers captain James Hird won the Norm Smith Medal for his Grand Final performance.

Essendon   4.8  10.16  16.17  19.21 (135)
Melbourne   3.3  5.5  8.8  11.9 (75)

Best: Hird, Blumfield, Barnes, Caracella, Misiti, Wallis

Goals: Barnard 4, Lloyd 4, Caracella 3, Hird 2, Alessio, Bewick, Blumfield, Long, Mercuri, Moorcroft

Norm Smith Medal: James Hird

Team

B: Mark Johnson, Dustin Fletcher, Sean Wellman

HB: Damien Hardwick, Dean Wallis, Dean Solomon

C: Chris Heffernan, Joe Misiti, Blake Caracella

HF: Mark Mercuri, Scott Lucas, James Hird

F: Adam Ramanauskas, Matthew Lloyd, Michael Long

R: John Barnes, Justin Blumfield, Jason Johnson

I: Darren Bewick, Paul Barnard, Steven Alessio, Gary Moorcroft

Coach: Kevin Sheedy

Captain: James Hird

Average age: 25

Average games: 112

Honours

Best and fairest: Dustin Fletcher

Leading goalkicker: Matthew Lloyd (109)

All Australian: Damien Hardwick, Dustin Fletcher, James Hird, Matthew Lloyd, Kevin Sheedy (coach)