The NRL season will come to an end tomorrow evening as the Sydney Roosters and the Melbourne Storm battle it out for the Provan-Summons trophy.
Storm captain Cameron Smith will break Darren Lockyer’s record of most finals appearances, notching up his 36th finals appearance. The Roosters have not beaten the Storm all year and the last time they met, it was a thriller in Adelaide. The score was 9-8 with Smith nailing the field goal in the dying seconds. Another record that is on the cards is that the Storm will be out to make history to be the team to win back to back premierships since Brisbane Broncos did so in the 1992-1993 seasons.
Storm coach, Craig Bellamy hasn’t made any changes except naming retiring Ryan Hoffman as 18th man. Roosters coach Trent Robinson, perhaps playing a few mind games, has named Mitchell Aubusson in the halfback position possibly replacing Cooper Cronk. Dylan Napa returns from suspension and makes it to the bench for the Roosters as their impact player. Latrell Mitchell returns as well as he will prove a handful for the Storms right-hand side defence. He is super strong and can score a try with multiple defenders in front of him.
Free from his judiciary charge, Billy Slater will lineup for the Storm at fullback for his final game of his career. He has played over 300 games and will be a big chance to win the Clive Churchill medal.
The Roosters still haven’t confirmed that Cooper Cronk will or will not play. He injured his shoulder last week against the Sharks and will be given the opportunity to make the final call on his fitness an hour before kick-off. Cronk is no stranger to the Storm as he played for them for a decade. Bellamy and Captain Cameron Smith know the way Cronk thinks and operates, so if the Roosters are playing games when it comes to crunch time, the Storm won’t be laughing with them.
Currently, the Storm is favourite with Sportsbet giving the price of $1.70 while the Roosters are out to $2.20.
The game will be held in Sydney at ANZ stadium with an expected crowd of 80,000 people in attendance. Pre-game entertainment will start at 6:30 pm while the scheduled kick-off time will be at 7:20 pm with the gates opening at 1:15 pm.
As well as the first-grade Grand Final, the day will feature the Women’s Grand Final with the Sydney Roosters and the Brisbane Broncos to battle while in the Intrust Super Cup Championship it will feature Queensland Cup champions the Redcliffe Dolphins and the NSW Cup Champions the Canterbury Bulldogs.
Tickets are still available on Ticketek for a price ranging from $70 to $700 which is depending on what experience you want and how close you want to be to the action.
There will be a lot of players who will be playing their first Grand Final like James Tedesco and Latrell Mitchell but with experiencing Origin this year. They should be able to handle the big crowd and atmosphere.
Winger of the year Blake Ferguson will also be playing his final game for the Roosters as he has signed a deal with Parramatta to help fill the hole that Semi Radradra left when he chose to switch codes to Rugby Union. Ferguson is the player to watch, he has had a season to remember. He notched an astonishing average of 198 running metres a game and was relentless in attack and defence.
There will be plenty of points scored from both sides as they will be keen to throw the ball around considering the dry weather in Sydney. My tip will be the Roosters to win the Grand Final by 8 points.
The Grand Final will also honour the retiring players of 2018. They include:
Johnathan Thurston, Billy Slater, Ryan Hoffman, Luke Lewis, Frank Paul-Nuaasala, Beau Scott, Chris Heighnington, Simon Mannering, Sam Thaiday and Johnathan Wright.
By Jesse Mullens
