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This Sunday’s NRL grand final will see the red-hot Bunnies from South Sydney play Des Hasler’s brilliant Bulldogs from Sydney’s west.
The biggest game of the season, to be played in front of a sold-out crowd of over 80,000 people, is full of mouth-watering clashes.
There’s Sam (and George, and Tom, and maybe Luke) Burgess versus James Graham, but as always the game is set to be won in the battle of the halves.
And with both starting hookers to miss the fixture, suddenly both sets of halves are under more pressure to provide.
The game sees the current NSW Origin halves will face the two many consider as a future Origin pairing. Despite wanting to pledge his allegiance to Queensland, Rabbitoh Luke Kearney will be wearing blue if he plays Origin in the future.
Adam Reynolds has long been touted as a future Origin star, and if not for an indifferent start to the 2014 season, he may have made his interstate debut after Mitchell Pearce was ruled out.
I challenge anyone to name a team that won the NRL premiership without a class halves pairing. A decent halves pairing can get you to the big dance, but won’t win you the day – just look at Parramatta’s loss to Melbourne in 2009.
This Sunday we have two teams with class halves combinations, but which team possesses the advantage at 6 and 7?
The experience edge has to go to the boys from Belmore, being that these two men led NSW to an Origin victory early this year, and Josh Reynolds played in the unsuccessful 2012 grand final. No other half in this Sunday’s game can boast a grand final appearance.
That said, Adam Reynolds has played the last three preliminary finals, and Keary now has a finals campaign under his belt.
The Bunnies halves arguably have the form. Josh Reynolds has been in the headlines more for his ill discipline at times during the season than his form.
Adam Reynolds, who was rumoured to have been asked to look elsewhere earlier in the season, is arguably the form half of the competition. At worst he’s on par with Mitchell Pearce and Trent Hodkinson.
Adam Reynolds and Hodkinson have both shown they are able to control games with their boot this season, and both have multiple try assists off the boot. Neither Josh Reynolds nor Keary are slouches on the toe either, but the battle of the 7s’ boots will be key in deciding where the game is played come Sunday.
If it comes down to a field goal, both sets of halves have landed match-winning one-pointers this season – Hodkinson slotted one just two weeks back to sink Manly’s season.
All things considered, there isn’t a heck of a lot between the halves pairings, but if I had to choose a pairing to represent my side, I’d go with the current Origin halves, by a hair.
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