You know, the ones that say "I'm riding solo, I'm Ivan Soldo" with a cartoon picture of his mug on the front and back, moustache and all.

The mere thought of his name and face on a shirt seems hard to fathom, yet it serves the Canberra product with another dose of reality.

This is his life now. The 23-year-old Richmond Tigers ruckman once plucked from obscurity is set to play in an AFL grand final at the MCG in front of almost 100,000 delirious football fans on Saturday afternoon.

The chance to take on the GWS Giants in the decider has him far removed from basketball courts and rugby fields he once graced in Canberra when he was yet to get a real taste of Australian rules.

As he storms through a banner at a heaving MCG on one of the biggest days on the Australian sporting calendar, he will likely give himself little time to reflect.

But those close to him will watch in a state of disbelief, for just six years ago Soldo found himself filling in for Daramalan College's 3rd XV rugby team at Viking Park on a Friday night.

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Julian Vecchi and Jack Heffernan took the coaching reins that season - and while the former it was a fair while ago now, he always knew Soldo had something special about him.

"I remember him coming past my house one night, it was about 11.30pm at night and he said 'do you mind if I have some eggs?'" Vecchi said.

"I said 'sure man, the eggs are in the cupboard'. He was massive into the gym at the time. I got him a bowl to make some scrambled eggs and he goes 'have you got a bigger bowl?'

"I was like 'ahh, yeah okay'. So I grabbed him this big stainless steel bowl, this is after 11pm, he just had to fuel himself and he had 11 eggs. That's just him.

"He was an athlete, fuelled himself with what he needed to eat and went to the gym.

"I remember watching him play basketball a couple of times. He's an athlete. If there is something he wants to learn in terms of sport, it doesn't take him long to become good at it.

"Basketball, rugby, he would turn up and you'd say 'this is what you're going to do'. He's just an all-round athlete."

There can be little doubt Soldo doesn't take long to become good at a sport - look at him now.

The former representative basketball player had barely laid boot to ball outside of gala days playing for Daramalan College when his life was turned upside down.

Soldo told his cousin Ivan Maric - then a Richmond cult hero in his own right - he was thinking about having a crack at the sport.

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Before long Maric was rushing to show club officials a photo of the two together - because at 204 centimetres and 106 kilograms, Soldo is the bigger cousin.

Before long Soldo found himself in the confines of Richmond's Punt Road headquarters as a category B rookie in 2014. For the bulk of three years he chipped away with an eye on a senior debut.

Naturally, he was told he was about to realise a dream just hours after being elevated to the senior list in 2017.

The fashion in which it all transpired was only fitting given the whirlwind journey the project player had already been on.

Now he sits on the cusp of becoming a premiership player in a Richmond outfit which has added another remarkable story to its ranks with Marlion Pickett set to make his AFL debut in the decider.

George Southwell - the captain of the Daramalan side affectionately known as "thirsty thirds" when Soldo tried his hand at rugby could never have imagined he would watch him play on this stage.

"Certainly not, certainly not," Southwell said.

"Nick and I had to lift him in the line-out but he would often jump high enough so we didn't have to do too much lifting.

"He used to jump up, we couldn't lift him because he was too heavy, but he used to get the ball anyway.

"It's just incredible to see him going from strength to strength in a sport he didn't play while he was at school.

"When he finishes up there on Saturday we might have to get him over to Japan to help the Wallabies out."

First comes the task of helping Richmond to the summit after they missed an opportunity last year.

A win on Saturday would be their 12^th in a row - equal to the club record - but this would be the sweetest.