Ask Adam Schneider who he wants to win when the Sydney Swans play St.Kilda in a grand final and he says “I get asked this all the time … I don’t know … I love both clubs .. I’d hope for a draw”.

And then he corrects himself. “Actually I wouldn’t … I wouldn’t want anyone to go through that again. I just wouldn’t watch.”

Schneider, who played 98 games for the Swans from 2003-07 and 130 games for the Saints from 2008-15, will find himself in that conflicted situation again on Saturday night without the same massive prize on the line.

Living in Melbourne, the now 33-year-old will turn on the TV to watch Sydney and StKilda do battle n Round 18 at the SCG and just hope for his mates to do well. And he’s got plenty in both camps.

This time he will be content if scores were to finish level, but not if it was a grand final. Not after going through what he went through in 2010.

Having been a member of the Swans team which broke a 72-year premiership drought in 2005, Schneider was also a member of the Saints team that went so perilously close to doing likewise in 2009-2010.

Having lost the ’09 grand final to Geelong by 12 points, the Saints drew the ’10 grand final against Collingwood after leading in time-on, and lost the replay by 56 points.

It’s a moment that still haunts Schneider.

“All the time,” he said. “It eats away at me a fair bit.

“Having been lucky enough to win one with the Swans it burns me up that the Saints boys didn’t get that ultimate feeling after putting in some much hard work and getting so close.

“The feeling when the final siren went in the drawn grand final was just weird. It was like there had been a murder out on the ground.

“It was terrible … I honestly wouldn’t want anyone to get through that again.”

Schneider is in very exclusive company, having played in no less than five grand finals.

Among more than 800 players listed in official 2017 AFL Guide only 133 have played in an AFL grand final. And 97 of them are at five clubs – Sydney (23), Western Bulldogs (23), Hawthorn (18), West Coast (18) and Fremantle (15).

Adelaide, North Melbourne, Port Adelaide and Richmond do not have even one player with AFL grand final experience.

More significantly, only one of 800+ current players have played in more grand finals than Schneider. Shaun Burgoyne. He has played on that very special day six times with Port Adelaide (2) and Hawthorn (4).

Current players with five grand finals include Sydney’s Buddy Franklin, Hawthorn’s Grant Birchall, Luke Hodge, Cyril Rioli and Jarryd Roughead, Melbourne’s Jordan Lewis and West Coast’s Sam Mitchell.

Also listed in the 2017 Guide as a five-time premiership player is Sean Dempster, Schneider’s long-time teammate at Sydney and St.Kilda who retired prior to the start of the 2017 season and will be very much in the same position as Schneider this weekend.

But as much as Schneider acknowledges what is an extraordinary feat he adds a well-chosen rider. “Yeah, it was great and I consider myself very fortunate, but I only won one of them,” he said.

He has certainly experienced the full range of options a grand final can offer, having savoured a four-point Sydney win over West Coast in 2005 and lived the devastation of a one-point Sydney loss to West Coast in 2006 before the three grand finals at St.Kilda.

Still, it’s been a remarkable journey for a young man originally recruited by the Swans with selection #60 in the 2001 AFL National Draft from the village community of Osborne in the central east part of the Riverina, 15km south of Lockhart and 19km west of Woodend.

Reflecting on his time at the Swans, Schneider spoke in glowing terms.

“It was incredible for me as a 17-year-old from a town of about 10 people to go to the city knowing absolutely nothing,” he said.

“The Swans taught me so much but aside from the premiership my over-riding memory is just the culture of the club. When I got there I think LRT (Lewis Roberts-Thomson) was the only player actually from Sydney so the bond between the guys was not just at training but away from training.

“It was pretty special, and I cannot speak highly enough about the culture of the place.

“I played junior footy with Jarryd McVeigh and I’m still very good mates with him, and I see blokes like Amon Buchanan, Tadgh Kennelly, Mickey O (O’Loughlin), Barry Hall and Goodesy (Adam Goodes) often. And I always will.

“There’s a special bond with everyone from that time, and I always look forward to catching up.”

It still irks Schneider that he missed the 10-year reunion of the Swans’ 2005 flag, but he had a very good reason. He was still playing at St.Kilda. So, too, was Dempster.

“Sydney were playing on the Friday night in Sydney so the they had the reunion Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but Sean and I were playing for St.Kilda on the Saturday night so we couldn’t get there.

“I think Ryan O’Keefe was the only other bloke who missed it.

“I was devastated. I actually considered asking Richo (St.Kilda coach Alan Richardson) if I could have the week off, but it probably wouldn’t have been a very good career move.”

Schneider, who played 23 finals throughout his AFL career, kicked 259 goals, and enjoyed a very respectable 58.% win rate overall, retired from AFL football at the end of 2015.

He had a 3-7 win/loss record in 10 games playing for St.Kilda against Sydney, including a loss in the 2011 elimination final, and fittingly finished his career against Sydney in Round 22 2015.

Sadly, for him, it was a 97-point Saints loss, but he kicked two of his team’s four goals.

Since he’s been a neutral observer the Swans have a 2-0 record against the Saints, winning by 70 points at Docklands in Round 21 last year and by 50 points at Docklands in Round 9 this year.

In 2016 Schneider played with Beaumaris in the Victorian Amateur competition, and this year is coach of the team following their promotion to the A-Grade Amateurs.

A regular in his team this year is ex-St.Kilda teammate Stephen Milne, who shared in the premiership success with Schneider last year, while Sam Fisher has played a few games and Raph Clarke will play this weekend.

But football is only one part of a very busy Schneider. During the week he works for Young Guns Container Crew, a business specialising in packing and unpacking shipping containers, and at home he and wife Nikkita have three children – Koby (8), Maya (5) and Beau (5mths).