The two regular season games between the two sides resulted in a draw (round five) and a 17-point Bushies win (round 15).

“The Bushrangers are a pretty dangerous team,” Barnard said.

“They've got a lot of high-quality players, particularly from the NSW-ACT representative team.

“Quality talls, in particularly, through guys like Zach Sproule and Todd Marshall are a real strength of theirs.

“We're under no illusions that it's going to be a tough, hard game when it's all on the line on Sunday.”

The Dragons have to adopt a slightly different program to most teams for roughly 10 weeks each season, when up to roughly half their list becomes unavailable to to Melbourne-based school tournaments.

Because of this, Barnard said the club had only had their full list available to them with two rounds to play in the home and away season.

Despite being edged out of the top four by the Bushrangers on percentage alone, Barnard said the extra game had done his team a world of good.

“We've been able to regain a bit of team cohesion with the extra game,” he said.

“The boys have gained a bit of confidence from having an extra run.”

Like the Bushrangers, Sandringham boast a number of players on the AFL radar.

Midfielder Tim Taranto has been likened to Fremantle star Nat Fyfe, while the likes of Andy McGrath and Oliver Florent will also be ones to watch on Sunday.

Corey Lyons, brother of breakout Adelaide star Jarryd Lyons, will be another potential matchwinner through the middle of the ground.

In a blow for the Dragons, highly-touted prospect Will Setterfield injured his shoulder in last weekend's preliminary final win over Geelong.

It took an inspired effort to topple Geelong in last week’s preliminary final, reeling in a four-goal deficit to win by 22 points.

The grand final gets under way at Etihad Stadium from 11:05am.