STORM v EELS
ANZ Stadium, 7pm tomorrow
The momentum of a runaway freight train versus the battle-hardened experience of four straight National Rugby League grand finals.
Australian punters and bookmakers have clearly plumped for the latter, aka the Melbourne Storm, but it's the fairytale late-season run of the Parramatta Eels that makes tomorrow one of the more
intriguing grand finals in recent memory.
In early July the Eels were A$101 ($123.39) chances to win the premiership - "I thought we were going to fight out the wooden spoon," confessed senior forward Nathan Hindmarsh.
The rest is history: 10 wins from their past 11 matches, and the first side to make the grand final from eighth spot.
Coach Daniel Anderson insists he was happy with their progress, even when they were 100-1 shots.
He deflects credit, saying the confidence simply snowballed from the likes of star fullback Jarryd Hayne, blockbusting prop Fuifui Moimoi and young five-eighth Daniel Mortimer.
"Coaches are a reflection of the players that represent them as much as anything. There's no magic dust. It's just harnessing, guiding and giving them the confidence to continue to flourish," Anderson said.
For the past two months it's been knockout footy for the Eels. Defending stoutly, and offloading at will, they smashed minor premiers the Dragons in week one of the playoffs in 30C heat; backed up five days later to overrun the third-placed Titans; then before around 75,000 fans at a seething ANZ Stadium a week ago, toppled bitter rivals the Bulldogs.
The question is, can they stretch their run another week?
The Warriors found eighth spot a bridge too far a year ago, with injuries catching up in the grand final qualifier against Manly.
Anderson has proven himself a big-game coach in eight years in the top flight. He guided the Warriors to a 2002 grand final defeat to the Roosters, then won three consecutive English Challenge Cup finals with St Helens.
This week the Eels have fronted up to their fans and media, relaxed and appearing like they're having the time of their lives.
"This generation of athletes that play in the NRL, I don't know if anything flusters them too much," Anderson said. "Especially this week, they're still smiling and they're enjoying it. We had a chat about what was going to come and they're embracing it."
Hayne's impending battle with Storm fullback Billy Slater is the headline act, as good as it gets in the NRL world.
Eels captain Nathan Cayless provided the one distraction as he braces for a fitness test on his injured hamstring today. A confident Cayless was rated an 80-20 chance yesterday, but said he was prepared to risk tearing the hamstring today rather than be a passenger tomorrow.
The one glaring stat for Eels fans is, their last title was way back in 1986. In 2001, their previous grand final with Hindmarsh and Cayless present, they were toppled by Newcastle.
The Storm, meanwhile, are the form team of recent years.
Under coaching duo of Craig Bellamy and Kiwis boss Steve Kearney, they contested the past three grand finals, losing to Brisbane (2006) and beating Manly (2007) before the Sea Eagles got revenge a year ago.
With Kangaroos Slater and Greg Inglis in dynamic form, the Storm beat Brisbane and Manly convincingly to book their grand final spot and arrive fresher than the Eels.
"I think it's been building. This is the best form we have been in leading up to any of our grand finals," captain Cameron Smith warned.
From a Kiwis viewpoint, Four Nations tour certainties Krisnan Inu and Moimoi (Eels) and Adam Blair and Jeff Lima (Storm) will square off. On the Eels bench there's also ageless former Kiwi Joe Galuvao, who already has a grand final ring with Penrith in 2003.
The Eels will have the vast majority of support in the sellout crowd of just over 80,000, but were underdogs yesterday at A$2.35 to the Storm's A$1.60.
STORM v EELS
Storm
Billy Slater
Steve Turner
Will Chambers
Greg Inglis
Dane Nielsen
Brett Finch
Cooper Cronk
Aiden Tolman
Cameron Smith (c)
Brett White
Adam Blair
Ryan Hoffman
Dallas Johnson
Interchange: Ryan Hinchcliffe, Jeff Lima, Ryan Tandy, Scott Anderson, Wairangi Koopu (one to be omitted).
Eels
Jarryd Hayne
Luke Burt
Krisnan Inu
Joel Reddy
Eric Grothe
Daniel Mortimer
Jeff Robson
Nathan Cayless
Matthew Keating
Fuifui Moimoi
Nathan Hindmarsh
Ben Smith
Todd Lowrie
Interchange: Kevin Kingston, Feleti Mateo, Joe Galuvao, Tim Mannah.
- NZPA
