SYDNEY has lifted the lid on its successful pitch to convince Victorian and eventual No.1 pick Montana Ham to nominate for New South Wales.

A new documentary from AFL Studios, The Final Four, goes behind the scenes of expansion clubs Essendon, Hawthorn, Port Adelaide and the Swans as they went about their initial list builds ahead of AFLW season seven in 2022.

"We had priority picks, it's a state-based draft, so we thought let's take advantage of that. We thought, what if we could actually get the best kid in the country? Will the rules allow it?," Sydney coach Scott Gowans said.

"We thought Montana Ham would go number one. We went to Melbourne with the mindset to meet her and her mum in her family home, with just having a chat. We had the cup of tea and the Tim Tam, we talked about footy and said we'd follow up.

"We actually left it – if you can believe it, which I can't – for nearly two weeks. We rang her and Kate (Mahony, head of AFLW) came in and said, 'I think she's actually interested'. I believe the difference was we didn't actually pressure her into anything, we just had a chat and that got her thinking.

"I was more worried about (Hawks coach) Bec Goddard at the start, because obviously Montana Ham would have gone to Hawthorn."

Sydney went about the task of constructing its first squad of 30 players, needing to convince a large chunk of its eventual list to move interstate.

"I think we had the hardest time of the four expansion clubs. Hawthorn and Essendon both had existing VFLW teams, Port Adelaide came from a footy state, while we were a non-traditional state," Gowans said.

"We knew we had to get our marquee players, and we kept having a throw at the stumps to try and land that big fish, but we couldn't. So we thought, 'all right, we're going to be a front-half team and just get the ball forward. So who's the quickest small forward?'

"[Brooke Lochland is] a premiership player. We knew she's not going to be around for 10 years, but she'd definitely help us build something. It took a bit to pry her out.

"She was the first one to say yes, as far as that top-level AFLW player. It was a little bit of a relief, if I'm really honest, once she said yes. I'm not going to lie about that. We thought, we're open for business, here we go – and someone shut the door again."

The Final Four will be available on afl.com.au/aflw and the AFL Women's App from Sunday, September 3 at 7.30pm.