Good mates turned ruck rivals, Rhys Stanley prepares to meet Tom Hickey in the AFL grand final

Rhys Stanley and Tom Hickey paired for 15 games as St Kilda players nearly a decade ago. The banter has already began as they prepare to face off in Saturday’s grand final in different colours.

Rhys Stanley couldn’t help but chuckle when the final siren sounded to put Sydney into a grand final.

The Geelong ruck’s mind immediately went to Saturday’s game.

And his phone immediately began lighting up.

After spending two years and 15 AFL games together in St Kilda colours, Stanley will start the first bounce of a grand final facing Tom Hickey, with both men in different colours.

“He is a great man, we get along really well,” Stanley said of Hickey.

“He is a good man, a great fella, funny dude. We have some really close mutual friends who have already started a bit of banter.

“Obviously I watched the game the other night and I saw him get up and had a bit of a giggle to myself. Who would have thought that all these years later we would be playing at two different clubs and rucking against each other in a grand final?”

Rhys Stanley is ready for his second grand final. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Hickey has taken the longest of paths to his first grand final, playing in four different states as a journeyman ruck with Gold Coast, St Kilda, West Coast and now Sydney.

Stanley spent hours grappling with the “quirky sort of a man” when they were both at the Saints in 2013-14, before Stanley moved to Geelong.

Playing under Scott Watters and Alan Richardson the two young rucks played in just four wins in their 15 games together in red, black and white.

“We were young guys, I had a bunch of hammy injuries back then had he had a patella thing,” Stanley said.

“We played a it of VFL footy together, we played a couple of games of AFL together, we had some good training battles.”

Tom Hickey is in top form. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Often unfairly maligned by Geelong supporters despite holding down the No. 1 ruck role at the Cats for the better part of five years, Stanley knows he will have his hands full against his old mate on Saturday.

Hickey will enter the decider as the form ruck of the finals, having outpointed Melbourne pair Max Gawn and Luke Jackson in a qualifying final before being the best big man on the ground in a preliminary final thriller against Collingwood.

But Stanley will know exactly what to expect.

“We know each other’s game pretty well,” he said.

“(Hickey) has a lot of tricks. He is crafty, I would call him a really crafty, skilful ruckman.”

Originally published as Good mates turned ruck rivals, Rhys Stanley prepares to meet Tom Hickey in the AFL grand final