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THE BRISBANE Lions have settled on who they will take with the No.1 pick in the NAB AFL Draft, but have yet to tell the player and might keep him in suspense until Friday night’s formal announcement. 

The Lions are widely expected to take Western Jets midfielder Cameron Rayner with the coveted first selection, but Victorian midfielders Andrew Brayshaw, Luke Davies-Uniacke and Paddy Dow are understood to be among the four players they had shortlisted for that pick. 

Lions football chief David Noble told AFL.com.au the club had settled on its first choice earlier this week but hadn’t decided whether to let him know they would be calling his name out at pick No.1. 

"We'll work through whether or not we keep the fairytale going through to the end. There's some traditionalists that think that we should just hold it and have it as a surprise a bit like having a baby (and not finding out beforehand whether it's going to be a) boy or a girl," Noble said on Friday morning. 

"But we're not sure. We'll have a meeting on that this morning and talk about that. I'll talk to Greg Swann the CEO and see what we come up with." 

Noble was reluctant to talk about Rayner or any of this year’s other top draft fancies, but was confident the Lions would get an elite player with pick No.1. 

"The top four that we've considered all bring some really strong weapons to the table, whether or not it's clearance, whether it's power, whether it's goalkicking capacity, whether it's the running capacity," Noble said.

Last year Essendon did not tell its No.1 pick, Andrew McGrath, that he had been chosen until his selection was announced at the draft.