Dynamic forward James Rose will fly the Sydney Swans' flag in Saturday's Grand Final Sprint.
For the second consecutive September, the 21-year-old from South Australia will put his speed to the test against some of the competition’s fastest during the 100m half-time dash.
He'll look to go better than his respectable fourth-place finish in last year's race.
He'll need to get through his heat first, the first of two, which will determine a final field to compete in the main event in what will be watched by many of the 95,000+ strong crowd expected for Saturday’s finale between Richmond and Adelaide.
All 18 teams will be represented and the field will be wide open given none of the competition’s previous winners will feature.
It was amateur footballer James Shirley from the Murrumbeena Lions who blitzed the field with a time of 11.7 seconds to win last year’s event ahead of North Melbourne’s Majak Daw and Geelong’s Jed Bews, helping himself to a handy $5000 cash prize.
Rose will have some familiar foe in former teammate Lewis Jetta who’ll line up for West Coast.
Jetta once represented his old club in back-to-back races in 2010-11, joining the likes of Rose, Dean Towers, Dan Robinson, Gary Rohan, Harry Cunningham and Mike Pyke to race in the red and white previously.
Rose is looking to become the first Sydney Swans player to win the event since premiership midfielder Jared Crouch back in 2002.
Competitors in the 2017 Gatorade AFL Grand Final Sprint
Adelaide – Jordan Gallucci
Brisbane – Dayne Zorko
Carlton – Jarrod Pickett
Collingwood – Will Hoskin-Elliot
Essendon – Kyle Langford
Fremantle – Tommy Sheridan
Gold Coast – Steven May
Geelong - TBA
GWS – Tim Taranto
Hawthorn – Harry Morrisson
Melbourne – Jayden Hunt
North Melbourne – Josh Williams
Port Adelaide – Jarman Impey
Richmond – Connor Menadue
St Kilda – Sam Gilbert
Sydney – James Rose
Western Bulldogs – Matt Suckling
West Coast – Lewis Jetta
The Rose amongst the thorns. All the best to our man in the heats of the @AFLGrandFinal Sprint #ProudlySydney pic.twitter.com/93iatmXYBC
— Sydney Swans (@sydneyswans) October 1, 2016