THE LAST Grand Final Tom Lynch attended was in 2010.
He was a 17-year-old passionate Magpie fan, who saw his side triumph in the famous "replay" against St Kilda.
On Saturday, he'll be lining up in Richmond's forward 50, having come via Gold Coast in his quest to play in that one day in September.
"That was the last day I was a Collingwood fan," Lynch said with a grin.
"It was obviously a big occasion, and being 17 at the time, it was a massive buzz to go to a Grand Final.
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"I've been overseas most of the time (for Grand Finals since then)."
For Lynch to even be in this position is an achievement, given his at-times rocky start at Tigerland.
The star recruit came to the club on the back of a serious knee injury that required two surgeries last year, in July while at the Suns and again in November to tidy up scar tissue.
He had an extremely limited pre-season, failing to play a practice match and only training once a week for the first half of the season proper.
Lynch had patchy form early on as a consequence and was even labelled a "liability" by Essendon great Matthew Lloyd in May, but has steadily built to kick 61 goals, playing every game of the season.
"You'd be lying if you said you didn't hear it, the critics and that," Lynch said.
"But as I said a number of times, I spoke to 'Dimma' (coach Damien Hardwick) and 'Mini' (forwards coach Andrew McQualter) and the guys at the footy club whose opinions I really value, and they were really supportive.
"They said I was playing a role for the team and bringing others into it, that 'we're really happy with you, you can perform better, but we're really happy with how you're going,'."
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The 26-year-old is in his first finals series after playing his first eight AFL seasons at the Suns and has shown no sign of nerves.
Against Geelong in last Friday night's preliminary final he was particularly outstanding, booting five goals from 19 disposals and 10 marks. He also picked up nine AFLCA votes.
Saturday's Grand Final opponent, Greater Western Sydney, is a different kettle of fish, led by intercept kings Phil Davis and Nick Haynes.
Davis was hobbled in his preliminary final by three separate injuries – a dislocated finger, a calf issue which saw him moved to full-forward and then a shoulder complaint – but shook them off to go back to defence in the frantic final minutes.
"They've obviously got some great players down there. I think Nick Haynes has been in super form," Lynch said.
"I expect Phil Davis to play, pretty much every time I've played the Giants I've matched up on him. That's the way I'm looking at it at this stage.
"He obviously was a bit sore, but I'd be a bit foolish to expect him to be less than 100 per cent on the weekend."
