In fact, six former Lions players - including four Premiership players - will have feet in either the Collingwood or Geelong camps on the day.
Among the familiar faces now with the Cats are Chris Scott (Senior Coach), Nigel Lappin (Assistant Coach), Blake Caracella (Assistant Coach) and Troy Selwood (Football Operations Assistant Manager).
There’s no doubt that many Lions fans will be hoping to witness favourite son Scott become the first person since Hawthorn’s Alan Joyce in 1988 to guide a team to the AFL Premiership in his debut season as coach.
Scott has enjoyed a remarkable first season at Geelong, suffering only three losses from 24 games this year to earn a place on the game’s biggest stage.
He was originally drafted as a teenager to the Brisbane Bears in 1994 and won the AFL Rising Star in his debut season.
Scott went on to play 215 games and kick 79 goals in 14 seasons with the Club, and enjoyed plenty of individual and team success along the way - including the 1998 Club Champion award and back-to-back Premiership wins in 2001 and 2002.
One of his good mates from that era was fellow Premiership player and Lions Club Champion Nigel Lappin, who was reunited with Scott in 2011 as one of his valuable coaching lieutenants.
Like Scott, Lappin was drafted to the Club in 1994, and retired at the end of 2008 after 279 games and 174 goals.
He was a member of the Lions’ historic three-peat of Premierships from 2001-2003, won the 2004 Club Champion award and was selected in the All Australian team on multiple occasions.
Lappin joined Geelong as an Assistant Coach in 2009 and was part of the Cats’ Premiership win in that same year.
Completing the former Lions’ Premiership contingent at Geelong is Blake Caracella who played 34 games in two seasons with the Club, which produced two Grand Finals and one Premiership.
Another former Lion enjoying his first season in the Cats’ camp is Troy Selwood, who has undertaken a role with Geelong’s football department.
Selwood - whose younger brother Joel will line up for the Cats on Saturday - also played an on-field mentoring role in 2011 as Co-Captain of Geelong’s VFL side.
Geelong’s Grand Final opponent Collingwood are not without their own Lions flavour.
Representing the Lions in the black and white corner will be Craig McRae who joined the Magpies as their Head of Development in 2011 after previous coaching stints with Richmond and, more recently, the Lions.
McRae played 195 games and kicked 232 goals in ten seasons with the Bears/Lions, and shared in the Premiership glory with each of Scott, Lappin and Caracella throughout the Club’s Premiership era.
But this Saturday his former team-mates will become foes as he helps Mick Malthouse, Nathan Buckley and co. plot Geelong’s demise.
Meanwhile, Collingwood ruckman Darren Jolly’s fitness may well determine whether Cameron Wood - who played 16 matches with the Lions from 2005-2007 - earns a spot in the Magpies’ final 22-man team which will be named on Thursday afternoon.
Regardless of the result, there are guaranteed to be some former Lions players celebrating the ultimate AFL glory come Saturday evening.
The Club passes on its best wishes to all former Lions who are involved in this Saturday’s 2011 AFL Grand Final and looks forward to a fantastic contest.
