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Home / Sport / League / NRL

As it happened: Roosters claim NRL title

NZ Herald
30 Sep, 2018 07:26 AM4 mins to read

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Daniel Tupou of the Roosters scores the first try of the grand final. Photo / Getty

Daniel Tupou of the Roosters scores the first try of the grand final. Photo / Getty

All the action of the NRL grand final between the Melbourne Storm and the Sydney Roosters.

The Herald's Dale Budge brings play-by-play action of the biggest league game of the year. Will Bill Slater finish his career with a title? Will Cooper Cronk make an impact?

Watch our coverage to find out.

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One of the closest NRL seasons on record will come to a conclusion tonight as what is expected to be a sellout crowd at ANZ Stadium witnesses the battle of the capital cities — the Sydney Roosters versus the Melbourne Storm.

It's been a huge grand final week particularly with Billy Slater's judiciary hearing and Cooper Cronk's fitness under the microscope.

Need to know when kick off is or when Gang of Youths hit the stage for pre-match entertainment? We've got you covered.

TEAMS

Sydney Roosters: 1 James Tedesco, 2 Daniel Tupou, 3 Latrell Mitchell, 4 Joseph Manu, 5 Blake Ferguson, 6 Luke Keary, 7 Mitchell Aubusson, 8 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, 9 Jake Friend (c), 10 Siosiua Taukeiaho , 11 Boyd Cordner, 12 Isaac Liu, 13 Victor Radley

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Interchange: 14 Dylan Napa 15 Zane Tetevano 16 Paul Momirovski, 17 Ryan Matterson

Reserves: 18 Lindsay Collins, 23 Cooper Cronk

Melbourne Storm: 1 Billy Slater, 2 Suliasi Vunivalu, 3 Will Chambers, 4 Curtis Scott, 5 Josh Addo-Carr, 6 Cameron Munster, 7 Brodie Croft, 8 Jesse Bromwich, 9 Cameron Smith (c), 10 Tim Glasby, 11 Felise Kaufusi, 12 Joe Stimson, 13 Dale Finucane

Interchange: 14 Kenny Bromwich, 15 Christian Welch, 16 Brandon Smith, 17 Nelson Asofa-Solomona

Discover more

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Reserves: 18 Ryan Hoffman, 19 Jahrome Hughes

HOW TO WATCH

The Herald will be live blogging the match. Sky's coverage starts at 9pm on Sky Sports 3.

ODDS

The TAB has the Melbourne Storm as favourites at $1.65, while a Sydney Roosters win will give you $2.15.

WHEN DOES THE NRL GRAND FINAL START?

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The NRL Grand Final is scheduled to kick off at 10:20pm.

WHO WILL BE THE NRL GRAND FINAL ENTERTAINMENT?

ARIA award-winning alternative rock group Gang of Youths will headline the NRL's pre-match entertainment.

The Sydney five-piece had three songs in the 2017 Triple J Hottest 100 list.

Last year, the NRL had US rapper Macklemore play and the league trumpeted the return of homegrown talent when announcing Gang of Youths.

"After the success of last year's entertainment, we wanted to go back a slightly different genre — just a great Aussie rock show from one of the best young bands in the business," NRL Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Abdo said at the time.

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"Gang of Youths are relevant, they're home grown, they're contemporary, and they are renowned for producing one of the best live shows going around.

"This year's act will showcase the best in Australian music talent and youth culture, with one of a new breed of local artists making significant headway both here and overseas.

"The fact that they are rugby league fans is also a bonus."

The band members are fans of rugby league as frontman Dave Le'aupepe is a Rabbitohs supporter.

RETIRING PLAYERS HONOURED

From 8:30pm, the NRL will also have its parade for retiring players with seven members of the 300-game club farewelling the game.

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Johnathan Thurston (North Queensland Cowboys), Luke Lewis (Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks), Simon Mannering (Warriors), Chris Heighington (Newcastle Knights) and Sam Thaiday (Brisbane Broncos) will be part of the tribute.

Billy Slater and Ryan Hoffman, who are in the Melbourne Storm squad for the Grand Final, will also be acknowledged.

Other players who will be part of the Retiring Players Class for 2018 are: Jonathan Wright (Manly Warringah Sea Eagles), Peter Wallace, Tim Browne (Penrith Panthers), Antonio Winterstein (North Queensland Cowboys), Beau Scott (Parramatta Eels), Jacob Lillyman (Newcastle Knights), Joseph Paulo (Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks), Brenton Lawrence (Gold Coast Titans), Jason Nightingale (St George Illawarra), Frank-Paul Nuuausala (Sydney Roosters) and Jason Clark (South Sydney Rabbitohs).

WHO WILL SING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM?

The National Anthem will be sung by Samantha Jade.

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