Swans and Lions trek different paths to AFL summit

As Sydney savoured extended views from the summit, Brisbane were on thin ice.

The trek to the AFL grand final has been polar opposite for clubs who recently reached the peak without planting the flag.

They're the two most recent grand final losers: Brisbane, pipped by four points by Collingwood last year; Sydney, hammered by 81 points by Geelong in 2022.

They return to the precipice with redemption in sight on Saturday at a sold-out MCG after contrasting seasons.

Sydney's path was smooth, holding top spot on the ladder since round nine;  Brisbane's road was rocky.

The Lions, beset by injuries, were outside the top eight from rounds two to 16.

At their mid-season bye, the Lions had just four wins from 11 games and had lost four soldiers - recruit Tom Doedee, Keidean Coleman, Darcy Gardiner and Lincoln McCarthy - to season-ending knee injuries.

Brisbane coach Chris Fagan doubted finals were possible, let alone a premiership.

"We'd moved away from that 'walking on thin ice, you may as well dance' thing," Fagan said, embracing the metaphor for being bold when in danger.

"We don't feel like we've got a hell of a lot to lose; we came from a long way back to play finals."

The 63-year-old Fagan would become the AFL's oldest premiership coach with victory in Saturday's showdown.

But also standing at the crest is the current longest-serving coach in the league, Sydney's John Longmire.

Longmire has missed the finals just twice in his 14 seasons at the helm which include a premiership (2012) but also three grand final losses (2014, 2016 and 2022).

The Swans were the highest-scoring team in the home-and-away rounds and  finished top with 17 wins and six losses; Brisbane recovered to place fifth with 14 wins, eight losses and a draw.

The combatants have met just once in a VFL/AFL grand final when their genesis clubs, Fitzroy and South Melbourne, played for the 1899 premiership - Fitzroy won by one point.

In the modern AFL era, they have crossed finals paths only once, in a 2003 preliminary final which Brisbane won by 44 points en route to a third consecutive premiership - the club's most-recent flag.

And this season the clubs clashed once, when Brisbane prevailed by two points in a July 21 thriller at the Gabba in a tasty entree to Saturday's main course.

The menu for the first grand final between two non-Victorian clubs since 2006 features side dishes aplenty to whet the appetite.

Will Sydney pin-up Isaac Heeney or Brisbane's dual Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale feast?

How long before friction between Sydney stirrer Tom Papley and Brisbane's feisty 35-year-old Dayne Zorko leads to detonatation?

Is ruckman Brodie Grundy, at his third club in three seasons, the icing on Sydney's cake? What will become of the enigma named Joe Daniher; maligned by most, beloved by Brisbane?

Will Sydney's snazzy, sparkling midfield succeed against Brisbane's blue-collar, battle-hardened on-ballers?

Can the Swans' key forwards - 52-gamer Joel Amartey and 69-gamer Logan McDonald - unlock the shackles of a Brisbane defence marshalled by veterans Harris Andrews (211 games) and Ryan Lester (206 games)?

And who of a batch of glittering young stars such as Chad Warner, Cam Rayner, Errol Gulden and Will Ashcroft shine brightest and help their club sing the redemption song?