Saturday's AFL Grand Final between Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs promises to be a blockbuster with several tasty match-ups.
Which battles within the game will prove crucial to deciding the result?
How will the coaches Simon Goodwin and Luke Beveridge try to nullify their opposition?
Sporting News examines the key match-ups across the contest.
James Harmes v Tom Liberatore
While the praise for Bulldogs midfielders often goes to Marcus Bontempelli and Jack Macrae, Tom Liberatore has proved to be the team's barometer with the team going 11-2 when the extractor gets 25 or more possessions.
Intriguingly, this theory on Liberatore's influence was plain to see in the two home-and-away clashes between the Demons and Bulldogs, with both teams winning one contest apiece.
In round 11, Liberatore was successfully tagged by James Harmes and had only 16 possessions - his lowest tally of the season - as the Bulldogs went down by 28 points.
But in round 19, the Bulldogs won by 20 points as Liberatore gathered 27 disposals and six clearances to have a profound effect on the result.
It seems likely Harmes will spend significant parts of the match trying to stop Liberatore extracting the ball and give it out to the likes of Bontempelli and Macrae.
Or will Goodwin try to directly curb the influence of either Bontempelli or Macrae with Harmes?
Stefan Martin/Tim English v Max Gawn
Max Gawn absolutely destroyed Geelong in the preliminary final, with one of the all-time great performances in a final.
If he plays half as well in the Grand Final, it's going to be difficult for the Bulldogs to win.
The Bulldogs' ruck department improved significantly with the addition of Stefan Martin into the team for the preliminary final, with he and Tim English managing to break even with Power ruckman Scott Lycett.
But trying to limit the impact of All-Australian captain Gawn is a much harder task, with the 208cm giant capable of influencing the game in a number of ways.
Gawn is the best ruckman in the league at ruck craft, but has significantly improved his work when the ball hits the ground in terms of follow-up, contest and tackling.
He works back extremely hard to support his defence - as evidenced by the amount of times he was positioned alongside Geelong spearhead Tom Hawkins to allow Steven May and Jake Lever the ability to intercept mark and be third-man up.
And in recent weeks, Gawn has pushed forward to have significant impact in attack, kicking the winner after the siren against Geelong in round 23, before destroying the Cats with five goals in the preliminary final.
Martin has been a good ruckman throughout his career but the 34-year-old mustn't allow himself to be exploited by Gawn's work-rate.
Josh Schache v Jake Lever
It looked like Schache's career at the Bulldogs was nearly over after managing only two games in 2020 and only one match in 2021 prior to round 19.
But after impressing as a makeshift defender in the round 19 win against Melbourne, Schache has been an option for Luke Beveridge to consider.
Against Port Adelaide in the preliminary final, Schache played up forward but in a defensive role against Aliir Aliir, severely limiting the All-Australian's impact.
Not only was Aliir restricted, but Schache also kicked 1.3 and took six marks - proving to be a dangerous forward option.
It's like Schache will be given the exact same role on another All-Australian defender in Jake Lever.
Lever is the number one intercept marker in the game and if Schache can reduce his influence like he did to Aliir, the Dogs might be able to stop the ball coming out of their forward line quickly.
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