Melbourne Storm vs Cronulla Sharks – Sunday night (7.15pm AEDT) – ANZ Stadium

The Melbourne Storm

What a team they have been, and what a team they are. I was taken with something on the weekend. While watching the AFL preliminary final between the GWS Giants and the Western Bulldogs it was obvious to everyone who had the most crowd support. There were 21000 at that game, and 11000 of them flew in from Melbourne to support the away team. The home team were booed when they came out for their warm-up. It was a peculiar thing to watch. On the same weekend 28000 people were at AAMI Park for the Storm/Raiders preliminary, and while the Raiders had a fantastic group of travelling supporters, 25000 of the people in that crowd were decked out in purple. Granted the Storm have been around a while longer than the Giants, but it's clear to me that the city of Melbourne have embraced the Storm as their team in that game they don't really understand. Bellamy, Smith, Cronk and Slater can't walk down to the shop to get a sausage roll without hearing a chorus of 'Go Storm'. The Storm workforce may be all FIFO workers, but Melbourne has accepted them as a part of the flock. Meanwhile the Giants are not seen as a team representing their region but as colonial representatives of the AFL. Perhaps that will change in time...but I have my doubts. There's not a chance in hell the AFL would punish the Giants like the NRL did to the Storm following the salary cap saga. Amazingly, the Storm have come through all that and are as resilient as ever. Their supporters are more fervent than ever. In a strange way, that salary cap scandal may have been a positive for the purple machine. What a team they are.

The Cronulla Sharks

50 years and not a premiership to show for it, most of the experts have them pencilled in as the winner on Sunday night. Here's another team that have battled their fare share of controversy. Several times in the history of this game those in charge have wanted to kill off the club altogether, or at least relocate them. Two years ago the club were penalised over their illegal supplements program, and here they are in a grand final. Like the Storm, the Sharks and their supporters are as resilient as ever. To think the Essendon Bombers have the wooden spoon in 2016, and the Sharks could have a premiership. Love them or loathe them, their success this season has been an extraordinary achievement.

The verdict

The team that wins the grand final will do so by defeating every other team that finished in the top four this season. Whoever lifts the trophy on Sunday night has got there by beating the best of the best.

On face value it looks like the Sharks have all the momentum leading into this grand final. That was a dominating performance over the Cowboys, but there are a few question marks about the win for mine. Many of us feared the Cowboys would struggle to perform after their extra time victory over the Broncos, and struggle they did. In the early period their completion rate was 2 from 10. Nothing went right and the Sharks could smell blood in the water. They ran riot and the home crowd pushed them on. What I wonder is how much of that poor performance was a result of pressure from the Sharks, and how much of it was a result of the Cowboys previous game? The answer is probably a little bit from column A and a little bit from column B, but how much from each column? I just don't know. The Sharks were great, but I suspect every other top eight side (except the Broncos) would have done much the same thing to the Cowboys last weekend.

As for the Storm, I'm not the only person that thinks they were lucky to win that game over the Raiders. Note that both grand finalists played the Raiders during the finals and both teams defeated the Raiders by two points. Of course, the Sharks beat the Raiders away from home and with players unavailable, so on that form line alone you'd be leaning their way. Lucky or not, the Storm have an uncanny ability to win close games. They execute a game plan better than anyone else and the wins follow. Their senior players have plenty of big game experience to draw upon, and it's usually winning experience. Paul Gallen has plenty of experience in big games too, but in almost every big game he's played he's lost. The round 26 clash between these sides was a fairly big game too. The minor premiership was on the line, and the Storm won 26-6. The game was closer than that, but the Storm won 26-6. Obviously the grand final isn't at AAMI Park, and the Storm haven't actually played a game at ANZ Stadium all season, but when they do play there they win 71% of the time. The Sharks have only played their twice this season for a narrow win over the Bulldogs and a loss to the Rabbitohs. Their win rate at ANZ is a paltry 32%. Not a lot of happy memories for the Sharks at Homebush. Sharks coach Shane Flanagan is in his first grand final. It seems like Bellamy has been doing this forever. Experience matters. It's hard to measure what's it worth, but it's worth something. I think it's worth plenty.

Prince died in April this year. Love live Prince. Purple Reign...Purple Reign...

Scoreline – Storm 19 : Sharks 18

First try scorer - Kevin Proctor

Clive Churchill medallist - Cooper Cronk

Result - Sharks 14 defeated Storm 12

Wally Lewis - Grand Final (in bold)

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

• Storm vs SHARKS