CAM RAYNER can make it five.

Before Saturday, there had only ever been four No.1 picks to have won a premiership.

Drew Banfield got two of them at West Coast, Des Headland won one at Brisbane, Luke Hodge claimed four flags at Hawthorn, while Tom Boyd saluted for the Western Bulldogs.

But now Rayner is the fifth of a special bunch. Brisbane's No.1 selection back in 2017, emerging as the pick of a talented collection that could have included Andrew Brayshaw, Paddy Dow, Luke Davies-Uniacke or Adam Cerra, Rayner has now joined a unique group.

"I just said to my mum before, I said this makes it all worth it," Rayner told AFL.com.au.

"Obviously, to come to a club as a No.1 pick, it means they're on the bottom of the ladder. To be able to do this journey, with this group of boys especially, and to have Chris Fagan – who was under the pump all season – he and we have proved all of those doubters wrong.

"It's unbelievable. To come from this club when we were at the bottom, then even at the start of our season we were nowhere. To come back and do that, it's an unbelievable feeling."

Indeed, Brisbane was "nowhere" in the early parts of this season. Having started with a disappointing 2-5 record, the Lions peeled off 14 wins from their final 16 games to secure premiership glory.

"I couldn't (imagine it)," Rayner said.

"Halfway through the year, we wanted to try and get here but it still felt so far away. Even in this finals series, we had our backs against the wall. But this was a game where we started to get our ball movement from the start and finish it off. The rest have been tough, big slogs. It's been unbelievable."

Rayner won just five games in his first campaign at Brisbane, but the Lions haven't missed the finals since. Part of the side that came so close to premiership success last year, Saturday's victory made the journey worth the setbacks.

So, when did Rayner know his own story was about to culminate in a premiership? Despite leading by 73 points at three-quarter time, the Brisbane forward wouldn't allow himself to enjoy the moment until the final term.

"It's hard. In the third quarter, you still know there's a lot of time," Rayner said.

"Especially in footy this year, people come from everywhere. But in the last quarter I looked at Eric Hipwood and Joey Daniher and I said, 'I think we're premiership players'. I think that was with 20 minutes left.

"It's an unbelievable feeling. I just really hope everyone can feel something like this for one time in their life, it's unbelievable."