KEY POINTS:
SYDNEY - The Kiwis' title as the best side in league's small world goes on the line tonight, in an atmosphere of calm amid a cricketing storm.
England claimed cricket's most prized trophy last year and the Ashes have now claimed Australia, leaving league's Tri-Nations finale struggling to match the Sydney heat. Throw in league sides who have gathered their energy for the football battle rather than hammer away in the media, and it means the series has had a quiet week before the grand final drama.
In the finest Steve Harmison tradition, the press even struggled to bowl an opening line to Kangaroo captain Darren Lockyer before their final training run at Kogarah yesterday. Coach Ricky Stuart then went through a couple of perfunctory media drills while limiting his natural urge to question most things. Brian McClennan's champion Kiwis had a non-press day.
The combatants will undoubtedly turn up the volume to screaming pitch on the Aussie Stadium field tonight, but after a tough seven-week tournament full of on-field clashes, vitriol and travel, the finalists have avoided distractions in the run-up.
The tone of the early exchanges tonight may well be set by whether Stuart sends out the volatile Willie Mason, who is sure to deliver a few bouncers.
The hints are that Mason - still smarting from the David Kidwell hit at Mt Smart - will be on the bench.
This final is a clash of two distinct styles.
The more stocky Kiwis have developed a marauding hand-to-hand combat approach, using short passes and running in numbers to confuse the defensive line.
Generally, they run in pre-determined pairs to ensure the workload is shared. Props Roy Asotasi and Ruben Wiki emerged as one of those units against Great Britain, sometimes tipping the ball to each other.
The Kiwis, with the more explosive forwards and tough backs who join this fray, should have periods of dominance. The key will be whether Stacey Jones and Brent Webb in particular can profit when they are on the front foot.
In contrast, the lanky Australians like to stretch the spaces between players, and particularly when Darren Lockyer is involved. The Australians are loaded with speedy and dangerous backs, ready to reap the rewards. Australia can make plenty out of very little, as happened in Melbourne. Give Greg Inglis and friends an inch and they take miles.
If there is an obvious Kiwi weak spot, then left wing Manu Vatuvei's shaky work when any type of kick comes his way is at the head of the queue. Countering this, Vatuvei had a tremendous final in Leeds last year, terrorising Brent Tate who will oppose him again tonight.
Tate lacks the outright class of his backline comrades, but he is a workhorse from dummy half and in running the ball back from kicks. If Vatuvei could repeat his 2005 performance, it would add a considerable string to the Kiwis' bow.
The Kiwis are also likely to suffer through an inferior kicking game.
The appointment of referee Ashley Klein may work in the Kiwis' favour, as he is unlikely to drag the defensive lines back as far as an NRL whistler.
But if heat is a major factor, the Australians have the greater endurance.
The match is likely to mark the test farewell for Stacey Jones, who has the chance to depart in a style unimaginable when he retired from tests a couple of years ago.
If the two sides are as even as many judges believe, then the final could come down to what McClennan's Kiwis sometimes describe as the Mt Everest Moments.
Having plotted and planned for so long, and reserved as much energy and resources as possible for the final push, one team holds its nerve to reach the peak as the other fades.
A battle to the death might favour Lockyer's Australians because the Kangaroos have a history of great escapes.
