While two All Australians battle at one end, a duel between two out-of-form youngsters at the other could just as well decide the outcome of Saturday’s AFL grand final.

The glamour match-up pits Hawthorn game-breaker Lance Franklin against Sydney late-bloomer Ted Richards.

But while the Hawks boast plenty of other scoring avenues, their hopes rest much more heavily than they would like on 21-year-old key defender Ryan Schoenmakers.

Likely to get the job on struggling Swans 20-year-old Sam Reid, Schoenmakers is coming off a horror finals series so far, monstered by Collingwood’s Travis Cloke and Adelaide’s Kurt Tippett.

Reid is out of form, but so was Tippett before roaring to life with 11 marks and four goals against Schoenmakers as the Hawks just survived to reach Saturday’s decider.

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson admits Schoenmakers, in his fourth year and with 59 AFL games to his name, is far from the finished product.

“He’s still got a fair way to go,” Clarkson told reporters on Friday.

“He’s a young player who’s played about 50 games of AFL footy now.

“Wrongly or rightly in terms of his evolution, we compare him to someone like (Collingwood’s) Ben Reid, who by his fourth year of AFL footy had played eight AFL games, then came on in a rush pretty quickly.

“… You’ve only got to look at the Swannies and Ted Richards, how long it’s taken him to become an All Australian centre half-back.

“(Schoenmakers) is not a monster of a man, but he’s learning his craft pretty well for us and we’ve been really happy with the contributions that he’s made.

“Yeah, he’s been monstered by a couple of big fellas but he’s not the only guy that’s been monstered by those big fellas.”

Clarkson said the key was to win the midfield battles and avoid the Swans forwards being hit with precise passes in one-on-one contests.

But Sydney coach John Longmire the Swans would also be in big trouble if Hawthorn’s forwards received the delivery they liked.

“If we don’t get our pressure right in the midfield Franklin and (Cyril) Rioli will have a field day,” Longmire said.

“We’ve got to make sure that our pressure all over the ground (is strong).

“I’m sure both teams are focused on that midfield pressure.

“That’s where we’ve got to make sure we apply it and either team will have an advantage if they get lace-out delivery into their forward line.”