Essendon players were alleged to have laid down in the last final against Richmond, and again in a defeat to VFA club Footscray in an exhibition match which added strength to Footscray's bid to join the VFL the following year.Actually, 1924 was potentially not quite as simple as that, but it turned out that way.
You can read about it here:
1924 VFL season - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Note that the Public Service Football Club - made up of, you guessed it, public servants - also applied to join the VFL and lost out to Footscray. We get some flak for collecting flags over Adelaide and GWS - imagine a premiership win over the Public Service!