WHICH gets it done on Grand Final day – the Brisbane blueprint or the Sydney strategy?

The Lions and Swans have taken different routes to this year's premiership decider, including varying – at times intersecting – list management and drafting priorities.

AFL.com.au has looked at both clubs' preliminary final line-ups, plus their emergencies, to find how both have built their Grand Final lists, where their strengths have come from, where they've looked to find reinforcements and how each plan has come together to fight for the 2024 flag. 

FIRST ROUND PICKS

Sydney
Nick Blakey (Academy, No.10, 2018 national draft)
Braeden Campbell (Academy, No.5, 2020 national draft)
Caiden Cleary (Academy, No.24, 2023 national draft)
Ollie Florent (No.11, 2016 national draft)
Will Hayward (No.21, 2016 national draft)
Isaac Heeney (Academy, No.18, 2014 national draft)
Logan McDonald (No.4, 2020 national draft)

Brisbane
Will Ashcroft (Father-son, No.2, 2022 national draft)
Zac Bailey (No.15, 2017 national draft)
Jarrod Berry (No.19, 2016 national draft)
Jaspa Fletcher (Father-son, No.12, 2022 national draft)
Eric Hipwood (Academy, No.14, 2015 national draft
Kai Lohmann (No.20, 2021 national draft)
Hugh McCluggage (No.3, 2016 national draft)
Cam Rayner (No.1, 2017 national draft)
Brandon Starcevich (No.18, 2017 national draft)
Darcy Wilmot (No.16, 2021 national draft)

Brisbane will take the field on Saturday with nearly half of its side drafted to the Lions as first-round picks. The group of 10 shows the quality of early selections the Lions have taken over a long period of time, particularly from 2016 onwards when McCluggage and Berry joined the club as part of a nifty trade down the order from pick No.2. Rayner, Starcevich and Bailey coming the next season added to the haul and Wilmot and Lohmann have both provided plenty of spark across the past two seasons. Sydney has less from its first-rounders but there is as much star power. Heeney is a 200-game superstar, while Florent, Hayward and Blakey have all enjoyed career-best seasons, including Blakey's first All-Australian guernsey.

SECOND ROUND PICKS

Sydney
Errol Gulden (Academy, No.32, 2020 national draft)
Tom McCartin (No.33, 2017 national draft)
Luke Parker (No.40, 2010 national draft)
James Rowbottom (No.25, 2018 national draft)
Matt Roberts (No.34, 2021 national draft)
Chad Warner (No.39, 2019 national draft)

Brisbane
Ryan Lester (No.28, 2010 national draft)
Logan Morris (No.31, 2023 national draft)

Some of Sydney's greatest hits have come in the second round. Parker is a Swans great who is searching for his second premiership after being a part of the 2012 flag, while McCartin was selected as a forward who turned into a strong-marking defender. Gulden was always headed to the Swans as an Academy pick but got through to a later pick due to the COVID-hit 2020 season, while the Swans struck gold with Warner at No.39. The wildly-talented West Australian was their fourth and final national draft pick that season and is the only member of that draft class remaining on the list but has become one of the AFL's most brilliant and dynamic midfielders. With its emphasis on the first round, the Lions haven't bought into the second round as much, although Lester remains huge in defence as one of their most experienced players and Morris' quick elevation as a third tall this season has changed the mix of their forward half in his debut AFL year.

THIRD ROUND PICKS

Sydney
Justin McInerney (No.44, 2018 national draft)

Brisbane
Noah Answerth (No.55, 2018 national draft)
Jack Payne (No.54, 2017 national draft)
Harry Sharp (No.43, 2020 national draft)

The Lions scooped up key defender Payne as a later Academy pick as their last of six picks in 2017 and he has been crucial in the back half. Answerth, too, has returned to Brisbane's defence to be valuable in their run of wins in the second half of the season and was selected after an injury-hit under-18s career that saw him completely overlooked in his draft year in 2017. McInerney's rise came late in his draft campaign, but his pace was obvious to the Swans, who grabbed him with a third-rounder and have watched him develop over the past four years as a mainstay.

FOURTH ROUND AND LATER/ROOKIE PICKS

Sydney
Joel Amartey (No.28, 2017 rookie draft)
Harry Cunningham (No.93, 2011 rookie draft)
Robbie Fox (No.34, 2016 rookie draft)
Jake Lloyd (No.15, 2012 rookie draft)
Hayden McLean (pre-season supplemental selection period signing, 2018-19)
Lewis Melican (No.52, 2014 rookie draft)
Tom Papley (No.14, 2015 rookie draft)
Dane Rampe (No.37, 2012 rookie draft)

Brisbane
Harris Andrews (Academy, No.61, 2014 national draft)
Oscar McInerney (No.17, 2016 rookie draft)
Conor McKenna (pre-season selection period signing, 2022-23)
Darragh Joyce (pre-season selection period signing, 2022-23)

Sydney has mined the late draft picks and rookie selections as well as any club in the competition and it has been crucial to their long success. Their rookie gems can't be understated in their consistent run in challenging for the top-four and Grand Finals and will again be on show this Saturday, when eight of their players lining up in the 23 will be rookies. Former co-captain Rampe and brilliant small forward Papley are the picks of the bunch, but Cunningham and Lloyd remain super consistent while Amartey, McLean and Melican have all held down key posts this season. Andrews' drop to the fourth round of the 2014 draft came under the previous iteration of the bidding system but remains a steal, and while McInerney won't play this week, finding him as a rookie out of the VFL system has been a significant win for the Lions' build.

TRADES/FREE AGENTS

Sydney
Brodie Grundy (2023 trade via Melbourne)
James Jordon (2023 free agent via Melbourne)
Aaron Francis (2022 trade via Essendon)
Peter Ladhams (2021 trade via Port Adelaide)

Brisbane
Callum Ah Chee (2019 trade via Gold Coast)
Charlie Cameron (2017 trade via Adelaide)
Joe Daniher (2020 free agent via Essendon)
Josh Dunkley (2022 trade via Western Bulldogs)
Lachie Neale (2018 trade via Fremantle)
Dayne Zorko (2011 trade via Gold Coast)
Darcy Fort (2021 trade via Geelong)

Brisbane's build has come through nailing its top-end draft picks, some valuable later selections and bringing in A-grade acquisitions from rival clubs. In Cameron, then Neale, then Daniher, then Dunkley, the Lions added brilliance in their midfield and forward line with a quartet who weren't from Queensland. Ah Chee, a top-10 pick at the Suns, has also been important this year with a career-best 23 goals from 25 games. Fort, who looks likely to replace McInerney this week, crossed as part of the ruck merry-go-round in 2021 from Geelong, while the Lions traded for rights on local product Zorko. The Swans jumped for Grundy last year after one season at Melbourne and he has delivered, while Jordon also came from the Dees as an unrestricted free agent. They are the only two Swans who have crossed from rival clubs who will feature in the Grand Final.

FATHER-SON/ACADEMIES

Sydney
Nick Blakey (Academy, No.10, 2018 national draft)
Braeden Campbell (Academy, No.5, 2020 national draft)
Errol Gulden (Academy, No.32, 2020 national draft)
Isaac Heeney (Academy, No.18, 2014 national draft)
Caiden Cleary (Academy, No.24, 2023 national draft)

Brisbane
Harris Andrews (Academy, No.61, 2014 national draft)
Will Ashcroft (Father-son, No.2, 2022 national draft)
Jaspa Fletcher (Father-son, No.12, 2022 national draft)
Jack Payne (Academy, No.54, 2017 national draft)  

Both clubs have benefited from priority access over Academy and father-son selections. Ashcroft will be joined at the Lions next year by younger brother Levi, also a likely top-five pick, while Fletcher could have been selected under either Academy or father-son rules. Cleary was an emergency last week but in his first season at the Swans has impressed in the forward line, while Blakey, Campbell, Gulden and Heeney have all come into the Swans as highly-touted talents.