Had a little time for a write-up too
Firstly, a word of advice - don't spend any more on this game than you have on any other this season. Just because it's a Grand Final, the media has given it blanket coverage and everyone will be watching it doesn't make it a great betting game - to the contrary, the books should have this perfectly covered.
So let's look at why I'm backing the Eels Straight Up.
I'm ignoring the points spread as come Grand Final time, the only thing that matters is who holds the silverware at the end of 80 minutes. The underdogs are definitely capable of a backdoor cover when they're desperate while the leading side can easily adopt a conservative safety first attitude when leading late in the game.
Newcastle definitely have an opportunity to win SU and to cover. Andrew Johns is without doubt the premier player in the comp and could drive his side to victory. But what are the chances?
If Johns, who is carrying any number of niggling injuries, gets hit early - and he will - and struggles even more physically, the Knights' gameplan is severely restricted. He's not carrying the weight of the whole side - with quality backs in Adam McDougall, Timana Tahu and Matthew Gidley and dangerous forwards like Ben Kennedy and Danny Buderus, the dogs have other gamebreakers. But without Johns, the Eels would be overwhelming chalk.
In return, the Knights are likely to target the Eels' chief playmaker, the susceptible Chandler Bing-lookalike Jason Taylor. But a handicapped or absent Taylor would not nearly be the same blow to Parramatta's aspirations as a nobbled Johns would be to the Knights.
The vastly experienced Michael Buettner should also play a big hand in running the young Eels backline while bench player PJ Marsh is equally as capable of mixing things up from halfback with devastating effect as he did in last week's semifinal win over the Broncos when he spent a long period on at hooker and dummy half in place of Brad Drew.
The Eels, in contrast, are a team without a genuine star. But they have quality in every position. I believe Brett Hodgson is only an improved kicking game away from being the next Darren Lockyer, Drew is a future Kangaroo while Nathan Cayless is a front row legend in the ascendancy.
I believe when we look back on the 2001 season in some years' time, we'll realise the Eels took the game to a new level in that year. Their forwards play the game at a pace not seen before from big men - guys like Michael Vella, Andrew Ryan and the Hindmarsh and Cayless brothers will remove the lumbering forward from the game.
Their backs are similar in mould - big, quick, strong and skilled. It's almost an interchangeable XIII. Another edge the Eels have is in dummy half runners - they have half a dozen players who can break quickly from the play the ball while the Knights only have two that standout.
It's the speed of the game that I believe will see the Eels triumph in a signficant replay of yesterday's AFL final, where the younger, stronger, quicker team ran over their opponents in the closing stages.
I have no call on the total. That's because the Eels were the best attacking and defensive side of 2001. They can kill you with a stack of points or stop you from getting many.
PLAYING PARRAMATTA EELS -220 (to win one unit)
Hope you've all enjoyed making a little cash from the 2001 NRL
