ALASTAIR Clarkson is well known for his ability to network.

An avid traveller with an ink-stained passport, his post-season diary has long been crammed with opportunities to pick the brains of leaders, not just in sport, but any endeavour that might help him broaden his knowledge and help give Hawthorn an edge.

Yet for all those chats over the years, one person Clarkson had never broken bread with was Ross Lyon.

They had played and coached against each other, both as assistants and then as senior coaches, with Clarkson starting with Hawthorn in 2005 and Lyon with St Kilda two years later.

AFL coaching is regarded as something of a fraternity. There are all sorts of networks within coaching ranks as a result of those who have played and worked with each other along the journey. The Leigh Matthews and Mick Malthouse coaching trees have taken root, while Mark Thompson's is also blossoming quickly.

Yet throughout much of this, Clarkson and Lyon remained only passing acquaintances, exchanging little more than a handshake and a few pleasantries at the occasional get-togethers of the AFL coaches.

But that changed at the start of last year, and in an ironic twist, thanks to Lyon's move to Fremantle. The Hawks and the Dockers were scheduled to play a practice match in Perth in the lead up to the 2012 season and the Hawks arrived the day before with plenty of time to kill.

A mutual friend of the pair suggested that they catch up for a coffee. "I think the two of you have a fair bit in common," the friend said to Clarkson.

What happened next might not have been the start of a bromance, but it certainly was a meeting of kindred spirits. The planned 30-minute catch up the morning of the game extended to an hour and then to well over two hours, broken up only because, well, they had a game of footy to prepare for.

Clarkson and Lyon discovered that indeed, they had plenty in common and the same mutual views and concerns on life in the AFL coaching cauldron.

And it was no surprise that when the 18 senior coaches convened in Sydney a few days later for the annual meeting of the AFL Coaches Association, that Clarkson and Lyon led the room. They were the elder statesmen and their views were forthright.

Clarkson relayed to the meeting his experience of breaking bread with Lyon, who he described as "a sensational bloke" to the other coaches, with a plea to stay in touch, to network and to work together – formally and informally - to advance their profession.

On Saturday Clarkson and Lyon will butt heads at the MCG. The two best teams in the AFL will meet in the Grand Final to be overseen by two coaches at the top of their craft and who are roundly considered the best in the game.

"Both have the ability to get the players do what they want them to do," said Peter Schwab, the AFL director of coaching. "To buy into the game plan and philosophy and perform, that's the key to coaching.  Go where you need them to go.

"They're both innovative, the game has evolved and they have both shaped it."

Desperately unlucky not to win two premierships with St Kilda, Lyon has taken just two years to mould the Dockers into a flag contender. The cold and calculated decision to axe Mark Harvey mid-contract and headhunt Lyon from the Saints has already paid dividends.

Clarkson steered the Hawks from laughing stock to premiers in four years and has restocked a retooled team for another crack at a flag in a similar period of time.

A Shinboner and then Demon as a player, Clarkson is now regarded as a true Hawthorn man, with former Hawk Schwab noting that Clarkson has now coached the club for as long as Allan Jeans, a three-time premiership coach in the 1980s.

"Like 'Yabby', he crossed from another club and is now part of the fabric of the club. He is as much Hawthorn as 'Yabby' was Hawthorn. You can't be in a place for that amount of time and not have a huge influence on it and vice versa."

What premiership-winning former Hawks such as Schwab have come to appreciate about Clarkson is how he has come to respect and understand the culture and traditions of the club. A sad, but poignant example came after the win over Collingwood in round three, when, at Clarkson's behest, the family of former premiership defender David O'Halloran joined in the team circle and sang the song, only a few days after O'Halloran's shock passing.

"He gets it and he understands the club," Schwab added. "He's made his own mark on Hawthorn and has embraced the club."

Lyon is a bit more circumspect about his ties to Fremantle, talking often about the job he is paid to do, which at this juncture is to coach Fremantle to a premiership.

He might not necessarily bleed purple but he is comfortable in the colours, and irrespective of his roots in the rough and tough northern suburbs of Melbourne, his standing as an all-time great of Western Australian football is assured if he leads the Dockers to victory on Saturday afternoon.

Clarkson's body of work suggests he is already a Hawthorn great. Two more hours of football and he might well become a brown-and-gold icon.