Corey Parker: Wayne Bennett’s words that won a GF, my Panthers-Eels verdict and Kangaroos squad

For mine, that grand final was won in the second half of our preliminary final against the Bulldogs, the previous weekend at the old Sydney Football Stadium.

We were down 20-6 at halftime. Clear as day, I can still remember walking up the race as Willie Mason was mouthing off. ‘Yahoo, boys, we’re 40 minutes away from a grand final!’

When we sat down in the sheds, this was all Wayne Bennett said.

‘We’ve got two options. We can either go out there and throw this season away, or we can go out there and play like the Broncos.’

Early in the second half, Justin Hodges fielded a kick in our in-goal, made a break and linked up with Shaun Berrigan, who beat three defenders to score an amazing try where he planted the ball down over his head in the corner.

From there, it was a snowball effect. We won 37-20, scoring 31 unanswered points. I scored a late try when the game was already won and I could just feel that we’d found something special.

Our belief in each other going into that grand final was huge. We felt no one could beat us, not even that heavily-favoured Storm team. We won 15-8 and Shaun got the Clive Churchill Medal.

Do the Parramatta Eels go into this grand final against the Penrith Panthers with that same feeling, based on what they did against the Cowboys in the second half of their preliminary final?

They could, absolutely. Why not?

I still think Penrith have what it takes to beat Parramatta. I’m tipping a narrow win for the Panthers.

But I could so easily see the Eels grabbing their moment in this decider. So many things have galvanised their self-belief, on and off the field.

The Eels have played the Panthers three times this season and beaten them twice, meaning two things. One, they’re not overawed coming up against Penrith. Two, they know the game plan to beat them.

Even when Parramatta got beaten – the third time, at Penrith in the first week of the finals – it was only 7-6 at halftime and they lost Mitchell Moses midway through the second half.

A leak came out after that game, of an internal report claiming that nepotism existed within the club. Someone was pushing an agenda, coach Brad Arthur said, yet it only helped push the Eels to a 40-4 win over Canberra.

Then they were eight points behind in the second half of their prelim against the Cowboys and ran them down. That instils the type of confidence that makes you a very dangerous football side.

Mitch Moses made a massive sacrifice for his team in that game, missing the birth of his first child. To be honest, I’d have done the same thing in his position. Most NRL footballers would have. That’s professional sport.

From a family point of view, it’s selfish; your loved ones pay the price for your pursuit of being the best. From a team point of view, it’s incredibly selfless. Mitch gave up an enormous moment in his personal life to help his side reach a grand final. And that – especially from the leader of the team, the halfback – can be another thing that proves very powerful.

Often you can’t fully appreciate the effect these things have until it’s all over and a premiership is won. You ask different team members in hindsight about moments that made a difference, and they’ll tell you about the unified response to the nepotism leak, or about Mitch Moses missing his daughter’s birth. These are only the stories we know about; there’d be plenty more untold tales within that group that are just as powerful.

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Simple messaging is key in football and even more so during a grand final run, when all of a sudden there’s plenty going on that you try to enjoy; fans days, public appearances and the like. It’s one of the best weeks of your life. It took me nine years to reach another grand final. I was a senior player by 2015 and really tried to help the young guys lap it all up, without going overboard.

Football-wise, Wayne Bennett was always copy-paste every week right up until a decider: ‘Go out there and play like the Broncos.’

Brad Arthur and Ivan Cleary will try to keep the messaging to their players similarly simple. You can hear Brad Arthur now: ‘Win the collision. Go after the battle. Get in the grind and take your opportunities.’

Yet for the rest of us, there are so many elements to dissect in this Panthers-Eels decider. Both sides are rolling into the grand final red-hot. It’s going to be an absolutely cracking game, from the mind games to the match-ups to the big moments.

Penrith are playing their third grand final in a row. It’s an amazing feat and two wins would give them dynasty credentials; but I’d hate to lose two out of three.

Parramatta are playing their first grand final since 2009 and chasing their first win since 1986. The Eels’ premiership drought has been a huge talking point.

You can either embrace the pressure these factors bring, or risk being crushed by it.

Just as styles make fights, they also make footy games. In the years after 2006, Melbourne have been a terrible match-up for Brisbane; their style just rattles the Broncos. But Penrith and Parramatta are an extremely even match-up because of the style of football that they both like to play. They both love to get into the flow.

I still think that the Panthers have enough layers in their game to beat Parramatta. But the first 20-30 minutes will be really interesting, with how the Eels come out and what they try to do. Every time Parra have played Penrith, it’s been aggression and speed in defence, then power running paired with expansive second-phase footy in attack.

Taylan May being ruled out is a huge blow for Penrith; no disrespect to Charlie Staines, but he does have a couple of deficiencies in his game. Yet on the flip side, Eels winger Waqa Blake had an absolute shocker last time against the Panthers under the high ball, so there’s a weakness there too.

Parramatta’s selection of Nathan Brown after three months out of the team tells you that the Eels are placing major emphasis on their power game through the middle. Brown has got that bit of firebrand about him and great leg speed.

But far out, spare a thought for his mindset right now … hasn’t played NRL footy for three months and suddenly finds himself in a grand final!

Jakob Arthur has been a contentious selection, having not gotten on the field during the prelim final, and I can see both sides. On one hand, it’s a huge risk not having genuine cover if one of the halves go down. Yet on the other, this is the grand final; you pick the 17 that can best contribute rather than worrying about ‘what ifs’ and if disaster strikes, it’s just all hands on deck.

Looking at these two teams on paper, they equal-out pretty evenly in terms of each player’s value to their side. Nathan Cleary and Mitchell Moses are both priceless. If either was knocked out in the first minute, you’d suspect their team can’t win; probably the Eels more so than the Panthers.

Clint Gutherson and Dylan Edwards more or less cancel each other out. Will Penisini and Izack Tago. Reed Mahoney and Apisai Koroisau. Junior Paulo and Reagan Campbell-Gillard against James Fisher-Harris and Moses Leota. Shaun Lane and Viliame Kikau. Isaiah Papali’i and Liam Martin. Ryan Matterson and Isaah Yeo. Across the park, the margins are only fine, which will make the bench a huge factor.

Koroisau has been coming off the bench, which gives Penrith serious impact; though Mahoney may get a bit of an edge on Mitch Kenny early in the game. Spencer Leniu brings great energy off the Penrith bench, while Matterson does a huge job in that regard for the Eels. Whoever has the biggest impact could prove decisive.

While the head-to-heads are always important, grand finals are generally defined by moments. They just are. Maybe it will be a nightmare Cleary bomb that a Parramatta winger drops. A jink off the left foot from Moses or Dylan Brown. A Kikau charge-down, or a line break followed by a quick play-the-ball that leads to a try.

I’m expecting something big to unfold. I don’t know what that will be, yet you just get the sense that something out of the box will occur as this massive western Sydney rivalry plays out on the biggest stage for the first time. The way the season has gone, with refereeing decisions and the Bunker … I just feel that a huge talking point will come out of this game, one way or another.

Seriously, anything can happen in a grand final.

We’ll soon find out what. I can’t wait.

PREDICTION: Panthers by 4 – with a massive story to come out of it. Who knows what?

CLIVE CHURCHILL MEDAL: Dylan Edwards. I thought he was unlucky not to get it last year, after playing a massive game with a broken foot, and he’s coming into this decider with great form.

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The selection of Australia’s 24-man Rugby League World Cup squad will follow the grand final, with the Kangaroos’ tournament opener against Fiji on October 16.

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Here is the squad I’d pick – a first-choice 17 plus seven reserves.

1. James Tedesco (c)
2. Valentine Holmes
3. Jack Wighton
4. Latrell Mitchell
5. Xavier Coates
6. Cameron Munster
7. Nathan Cleary
8. Matt Lodge
9. Harry Grant
10. Reagan Campbell-Gillard
11. Angus Crichton
12. Cameron Murray
13. Isaah Yeo
14. Ben Hunt
15. Tino Fa’asuamaleaui
16. Patrick Carrigan
17. Jake Trbojevic

Reserves: Tom Flegler, Daly Cherry-Evans, Shaun Lane, Jeremiah Nanai, Reuben Cotter, Josh Addo-Carr, Dylan Edwards