NRL Grand Final: Relaxed Warriors ready to make history

Manu Vatuvei of the New Zealand Warriors attends the 2011 NRL Grand Final Fan Day. Photo / Getty Images

The difference between the two sides couldn't have been starker. On one side of the room, the Manly players looked calm, composed and focussed as they tucked into their bacon and eggs while on the other many of the Warriors were goofing around.

Manu Vatuvei hid behind a replica NRL trophy - and many of the Warriors snaffled one as a souvenir - Russell Packer often stood up waving his arms and taking photographs and Bill Tupou had a grin on his face like a kid on his first trip to Disneyland.

Whether they were genuinely relaxed and soaking it up in the Kiwi way or their antics were displays of awe and nervousness was hard to ascertain. But it was obvious which team was at their third grand final in five years and which was at their first since 2002.

The Warriors virtually wrote off Thursday as a day to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of grand final week. The breakfast has become a gala occasion attended by various dignitaries and celebrities and is beamed live around Australia. It's followed later in the day by a fans' parade attended by both sides.

The Warriors split the day with a training session at the Sydney Football Stadium and intended to get fully into game mode after their appearance at the fans' parade and on The Footy Show. They had signalled they would embrace the occasion rather than try to treat it as another game and they still have plenty of time to get their game faces on considering it's not until Sunday.

"At the moment, it's just enjoying the week,'' five-eighths James Maloney said at the breakfast. "I think it all winds up at the end of today when we will start knuckling down and make sure we have our eye on Sunday but it's been a massive week and I think all the boys have enjoyed the hype and everything that goes with it and we are just riding the emotion.''

They will have a day off from training on Friday before a closed session on Saturday and coach Ivan Cleary has liked what he has seen in his players.

Cleary is one of only a handful in the Warriors camp who know what grand final week is like. He and Lance Hohaia played in the 2002 final and he remembers they fell victim to the bright lights of the week.

"As a team we were just happy to be there,'' he said. "It was the first time the club had made the grand final so it was quite big news. And probably looking back we let the game get away from us. Maybe we had our eyes on the bright lights and celebrations. In the end we weren't good enough.

"All we can do this week is prepare as well as we can, enjoy the moment and make sure we give ourselves our best chance to play as well as we can on Sunday because, if we don't deliver that, we will be right up against it against a very good Manly side.''

One Warriors player who didn't draw attention to himself was Micheal Luck, but it's not in his nature to play-act. He's also aware of how rarely grand finals come around.

"I'm just trying to enjoy it at the moment,'' the 11-year veteran of more than 200 NRL games said. "It's been a long time and, up until last week, that was as close [to the grand final] as I had ever got. I'm stoked we are here at the moment.

"I'm trying to relax and enjoy it but, come this afternoon [at training] we have to be on and ready to go and again on Saturday. It's taken this long to get here and I might not ever get back so I won't be leaving anything in the tank on Sunday.''

For Aaron Heremaia, the breakfast was about filling his. Seconds after making his entrance into the Sydney Convention Centre in front of more than 1000 people he started tucking into his bangers and mash. It drew a few smirks from his team-mates but Heremaia, who was formerly a chef, didn't care. After all, it was 10.30am in New Zealand and he was hungry.

As he walked out of the breakfast clutching a replica trophy he said quietly the breakfast was cold. He only hopes he's left with a warmer feeling in his stomach on Sunday night.