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Richmond have pulled a major selection surprise with Marlion Pickett set to make his AFL debut in the grand final against GWS.

Richmond are confident Marlion Pickett is a big-game player more than capable of repaying Damien Hardwick's faith after the mature-aged rookie was sensationally picked to make his AFL debut in the grand final against GWS.

Pickett, 27, was brought into the line-up to replace Jack Graham, who was ruled out on Tuesday with a dislocated shoulder, in the only change made by the Tigers.

The Giants made two changes with Toby Greene (suspension) and Lachie Whitfield (appendix) into the grand final team at the expense of Bobby Hill and Lachie Keeffe, who were dropped.

Pickett's selection bombshell caps a meteoric rise for the midfielder who was playing in the WAFL with South Fremantle in May when the Tigers pounced with the 13th pick at the mid-season rookie draft.

The father of four pushed his claim on a shock debut when he won the Norm Goss Medal as the best player on the field in Richmond's VFL grand final win over Williamstown last week.

"In the end, it's simply he's the best-equipped for what we needed and it was a coach's decision," Tigers football boss Neil Balme said.

"There are a few blokes who are pretty stiff, but you can only pick one and again, it's all on the back of Jacky Graham being hurt."

Pickett is the first player to make his debut in a grand final since Collingwood's Keith Batchelor in 1952.

Jack Ross and Kamdyn McIntosh suffered twin blows this week, the pair kept out of the victorious VFL grand final team in case they were needed at AFL level.

But they have been named as emergencies, along with Sydney Stack and Ryan Garthwaite.

Key defender Nathan Broad was cleared of concussion symptoms on Tuesday night and will play.

Keeffe can count himself desperately unlucky to miss out after playing well in the preliminary final win over Collingwood.

He could still get a late reprieve with some doubt surrounding co-captain Phil Davis, who has had a very quiet week on the training track after hobbling through the preliminary final with calf soreness.

Keeffe is an emergency along with Hill, Zac Langdon and Isaac Cumming.

Stephen Coniglio lost his battle to recover from a knee injury in time to play, the star onballer selflessly ruling himself out on Wednesday.