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On Sunday afternoon, the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles will face the New Zealand Warriors in the 2011 NRL Grand Final. It would be a supreme understatement to say there is a lot riding on the game. The premiership is the ultimate goal for all teams, and the climax to the season will see two worthy recipients fighting it out for the NRL title.
Manly are the favourites, and have been consistently brilliant all year long. What the team lacks in popularity, it more than makes up for with results.
They thoroughly deserve to not just be in the grand final, but to win the whole competition.
Their opponents on Sunday are the New Zealand Warriors, who will come into the game as the underdogs after back-to-back shock wins over the Wests Tigers and Melbourne Storm. The Warriors would have been at long odds to even make the grand final after they were belted by the Brisbane Broncos in the first week of the finals, but they play an exciting and unpredictable brand of football, and now stand just one win from NRL glory.
Yet, there is more at stake than just the premiership.
Looking at the big picture for rugby league, the NRL needs a cracking game of football on Sunday.
The NRL is at an important juncture in its existence. Whilst the appointment of the Independent Commission and the impending TV rights deal will hopefully be important milestones for the future of the game, rugby league needs to continue to improve and grow if it wants to compete with the impressively run AFL.
The AFL continues to go from strength to strength, best illustrated by the fact that next year we’ll witness the debut season of the Greater Western Sydney team. The club is strategically placed in rugby league heartland, and the AFL has made no secret of the fact the club exists to compete head-to-head with the NRL in the battle for the hearts and minds, not to mention wallets, of western Sydney.
At the very core of growing both the AFL and the NRL are fans – the growth of both games is dependent upon capturing and maintaining the interest of the Australian public.
And there is no doubt that a captivating, intense and closely fought grand final, played by two highly skilled teams at the top of their game, is a vital fan recruitment tool for both codes.
As important as grassroots development and marketing are to the growth of both games, a high class grand final is arguably the most effective tool in maintaining or attaining fans.
The spectacle of the AFL and NRL grand finals ensures that they always attract a much wider audience that just the individual code’s loyal fans. And as luck would have it, both finals once again fall on the same weekend this year, ensuring that both showpiece events can conveniently be compared by casual fans.
The NRL’s greatest fear for the weekend is that the AFL’s showpiece event eclipses rugby league’s biggest day of the year. And the AFL is perfectly poised to do just that, considering the top two teams in the competition all season, the Collingwood Magpies and the Geelong Cats, are facing each other. The game has the right ingredients for an all-time classic.
Yet even if it’s a blowout to either side, the subplot will still be a great story, courtesy of Collingwood’s coaching drama, and Geelong’s attempt at a mini-dynasty.
Conversely, there is every chance of Manly turning the NRL grand final into a complete anti-climax by trouncing the underdog New Zealand Warriors.
Such a lopsided grand final would be a far from ideal finish to the NRL season. Whilst some would argue that witnessing a talented team showcasing their amazing skills and annihilating anther team can be a good thing, the truth is that a close and exciting finish is always the preferred scenario.
In fact, whilst the NRL would never admit it, and Manly fans won’t want to hear it, a New Zealand win is the ideal scenario.
Manly fans can protest all they like about being unfairly hated. Perhaps the hatred is unjustified. But whatever the reason for the vitriol against them, the simple truth is that the vast majority of rugby league fans don’t want Manly to win. Particularly by a large margin.
It may be unfair, but it’s also a fact.
As such, the NRL will be intently hoping against a boring blow out by Manly on Sunday. Especially if the AFL grand final the day before is an absolute blockbuster, which everyone expects it to be.
The perfect weekend for the NRL would begin with a boring, one sided, low quality AFL grand final. That would be followed by a brilliant display of rugby league on Sunday, in which Manly showcase all their brilliant skills, only for the underdog Warriors to finish strongly and claim not just another impressive scalp, but the NRL premiership.
Such a scenario would even have the added benefit of stealing New Zealander’s attention off the Rugby World Cup, if only fleetingly.
The battle between the AFL and NRL is not going to be won or lost purely based on this weekend, but it remains a little skirmish that both sides would love to win.
Over to you, Warriors.