Sydney Roosters (1st) vs Manly Sea Eagles (4th) – Sunday night – ANZ Stadium

Sydney Roosters

1. Anthony Minichiello
2. Daniel Tupou
3. Michael Jennings
4. Shaun Kenny-Dowall
5. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
6. James Maloney
7. Mitchell Pearce
8. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves
9. Jake Friend
10. Sam Moa
11. Sonny Bill Williams
12. Aiden Guerra
13. Frank-Paul Nuuausala
14. Daniel Mortimer
15. Mitchell Aubusson
16. Issac Liu
17. Dylan Napa

Coach - Trent Robinson

Manly Sea Eagles

1. Brett Stewart
2. Jorge Taufua
3. Jamie Lyon
4. Steve Matai
5. David Williams
6. Kieran Foran
7. Daly Cherry-Evans
8. Brent Kite
9. Matt Ballin
10. Brenton Lawrence
11. Anthony Watmough
12. Justin Horo
13. Glenn Stewart
14. David Gower
15. Jamie Buhrer
16. Tom Symonds
17. George Rose

Coach - Geoff Toovey

Three times these sides have met this season, and on all three occasions the Roosters have prevailed. Manly have produced a total of 16 points in four hours of football against the chooks, and that is a dismal return. The closest they've got to winning was, oddly enough, the game when they couldn't score at all. That 4-0 loss in week one of the finals was, by a goodly stretch, the best game this season. Both teams have held that form, and another high quality contest looks likely.

Some may point to the 2013 record between these sides as evidence that the Chooks have the wood on the Eagles, but we could have said the same thing last week when we were lining up the Eagles and the Bunnies. It didn't matter then and it doesn't necessarily matter now. I'm still not sure how they did it, but Manly went from 14-0 down and on the ropes to runaway winners. It was an astonishing turn of events, given that the week before they spent the last 20 minutes of a match on the ropes as well. I'm still scratching my head trying to work out how they made it, but here they are.

Much is being made of the grand final experience in the Sea Eagles side and it's hard to ignore that fact. The Roosters are a younger side but they have a fair amount of experience to draw on as well. Unfortunately for the Chickens, most of their big match experiences have been losing ones. I doubt either side will be overwhelmed by the occasion, but if anyone is it won't be the Sea Eagles.

I do like the look of that interchange bench for the Eagles - with one proviso - they don't want one or two injuries on game day in their backline. George Rose has nice hands but he might struggle in the centres if he needs to defend Michael Jennings. The bench for the Chooks worries me a little - some of those kids might start getting nervous waiting on the sidelines. It's a hunch. It's just a hunch.

Ultimately, Manly need to find a way to score some points against the best defense all year. Perhaps they can't, and if they can't the Roosters more than deserve the honours this season. But I liked what I saw from Manly last week. Down 14-0 in front of 8 million Bunnies supporters they remained calm and they won easily. I expect them to hold their composure again, and guts out a narrow victory in what looms as one of the tightest grand finals in quite some time.

For those that like a punt, back the unders in the total points scoring markets, and don't be shy about considering a draw at full or half time. Cherry-Evans is in remarkable form and he looks like a Clive Churchill winner to me. Brent Kite and George Rose get to leave their clubs as winners, and the Roosters are young enough to have another crack in 2014.

Verdict – Sea Eagles 14 : Roosters 12 : Result - Roosters 26 defeated Sea Eagles 18

First try scorer - David Williams : Result - Jorge Taufua

Clive Churchill medallist - Daly Cherry-Evans : Result - Daly Cherry-Evans

Wally Lewis - week one finals (in bold)

Note: tips from Wally will be published on Thursday night or early Friday morning.

• ROOSTERS vs Sea Eagles