This weekend's Bayfair Baywide premier division final at ASB Stadium is a headline writer's dream.
Brothers in arms, Battle of the Bridge, mate against mate - whatever the cliche, whatever the spin, it shapes as a mighty final.
In one corner, near faultless all year with title aspirations stiffened by recent defeats come finals time, stand top-seeds Tauranga Sports of Tauranga Domain. In the other, situated not far across the bridge down at Blake Park, is a Mount Maunganui side that looks to have finally found a way to win close games when it matters most.
Amongst it all is a tale of two brothers on opposite sides with slightly more than the Baywide premier trophy at stake.
Bay of Plenty Steamer and former New Zealand under-20s world champion Carl Axtens and his younger brother Matty Axtens are loosies on opposing sides.
Carl, 21, is captain of competition frontrunners Tauranga Sports, while younger brother Matty, 19, plays blindside for the Mounties. If the two meet, the result is sure to be different than it was in the old days when another brother ruled the backyard.
"Probably our oldest brother AJ," said Carl in response to the question of who beat who when the Axtens clashed. "He used to beat both of us up. Matty was always the youngest one so didn't really have much say in it I guess."
It was a desire to no longer watch that led the youngest brother from Reporoa College to Mount Maunganui.
"I came out of school and went straight to Tauranga Sports because my mate Sam (Cane) was there," said Carl. "I told Matty to come over but he wasn't too keen."
"I had a few mates at the Mount who told me to come down for a look, so I did," explained Matty. "There were some good fellas there and I wasn't sure with Tauranga Sports how much game time I could get."
His decision has proven a clever one, with the younger Axtens being at the core of the Mount's resurgence through the second half of the season.
"We lost a few just by a point there, which was really frustrating, but towards the end of the season we have managed to cut that out and we are starting to play some really good footy," said Matty.
"We're happy with where we are now, and with it being the last game, if we play a good 80 minutes, anything could happen."
He believes coach Rodney Voullaire has added a new dimension that has reinvigorated the entire club.
"He's good, he's pretty old school when it comes to coaching. He seems to get us going in the right direction and he has brought a whole different game plan to the club that's really worked well.
"His influence has filtered down through the rest of the squad too, into the Colts and the B squad, and it's picked the club up a lot. A few more players have come to the club and helped out the teams, and it shows now in where we are at."
Where they are at is on the cusp of the premier championship with only Tauranga Sports in their way, which leads to a tricky situation for the pair's parents. "They're pretty even, but Mum always supports Matty because he is the youngest," said Carl.
"Really, they come and support both teams and try to balance it up."
Whether they will be conflicted is down to Steamers coach Kevin Schuler.
Steamers wider training group member Matty is sure to play in the final, but it will be down to the discretion of Schuler as to whether Carl will suit up to oppose him.
"We started planning for that a while ago," said Carl.
"A lot of people were wondering what was going to happen when we lost all our Bay players, but Mike (Rogers) and our other coaches have planned for that and we've got plenty of depth in our squad at the moment.
"It shows, in that Opotiki game we had a few guys out, and we still came away with a good win."
Head coach Mike Rogers expressed the same sentiment, albeit in a more-tempered fashion.
"It's difficult to try to replace eight players. No matter how much depth you have it's pretty difficult. Eight is probably a little bit too many, but we have confidence in the guys stepping up.
"The biggest areas for us are losing two props and our captain and vice captain at number eight and nine. They have been driving us all year and we haven't really had the luxury of not playing them, but there are other guys there who are desperately keen to play in a final.
"We're going to train on Friday to give ourselves the best possible chance of getting some boys back. We've just got to prepare like we won't have any of them and hopefully still get the job done anyway."
Adding to the level of difficulty for Sports is the withdrawal of Alan McRobbie due to a pulled quadriceps, a shoulder complaint to pivot Paul Morris and a question mark over the fitness of Mitch Greenway.
There is more certainty around availability at the Mount, with a number of big names no chance of playing.
Johan Bardoul and the versatile Troye Elvin are out through injury, with coach Voullaire saying his side is not immune from the drain of players to representative duties.
"The Chiefs won't release Kenny Lynn. He's got a lot of promo work to do so we don't get him, and with Sam Beard we are waiting to see how he pulls up from his game on Thursday night," said Voullaire.
"We had a talk about it the other night. We actually don't care to tell you the truth. It's just do or die on finals day and the boys are amping to get out there."
Time will tell which Steamers players will back up from last night's pre-season match with Counties in Pukekohe.
Carl, who flats with brother Matty, just hopes he is one of them.
"There's a bit of banter going on at home so it's good fun. It should be a good weekend."
Bayfair Baywide Club Finals 2013