This year's finals series was one of the most exciting in recent years with upsets across the board and a grand final that will forever be talked about as one of the best in history.

But now with it all over, we have the opportunity to reflect on the players that put their foot forward and did their best to lead their team to success.

We saw match-winning performances across the four weeks of finals footy that have cemented these players as big-time players.

With the dust settling, we have selected 23 players that we say were among the best during the 2023 final series.

2. Midfielders

C: Hugh McCluggage (BL), Jordan De Goey (Coll), Steele Sidebottom (Coll)

McCluggage stood up big time for the Lions as tags to Lachie Neale started to take effect. Not only did he rack up a lot of the ball, he was decently efficient with it creating plenty of scoring opportunities for their forwards. De Goey was just as big. His dash away from the contest proved to be far too much for the opposition. Undoubtedly, one of Collingwood's most important players in this series. Sidebottom more or less had a quiet series attention-wise, but that didn't stop him from all the work that he was doing. Sidebottom got involved big time with the scoring and ended up kicking what was the winner in the Grand Final from outside 50.

Foll: Oscar McInerney (BL), Sam Walsh (Carl), Jack Crisp (Coll)

McInerney again put his name in the ring for one of the best ruckmen in the competition. His work after the tap was very instrumental, particularly in the preliminary final with his two goals. Walsh was unbelievable, to take Carlton to the preliminary final is a feat that has rarely been achieved. But he didn't stop there, in that game he gave the Blues every shot to win and would take out the Gary Ayres Award. Crisp's consistency again earned him this spot. His usual work around the contest was one of the reasons why Collingwood had so many opportunities on goal.