After a gruelling and bizarre season, Penrith and South Sydney will face off in this year's NRL Grand Final.
In a highly-anticipated rematch from their qualifying final clash a few weeks ago, Wayne Bennett will look to claim his eighth premiership ring as Ivan Cleary hopes to win his first.
As with every big game, there will be a number of individual battles that will decide the game.
Sporting News has broken down the three key battles ahead of the 2021 NRL Grand Final.
API KOROISAU VS DAMIEN COOK
Two of the best hookers in the game today, Cook and Koroisau will both play major roles in their side's respective chances of winning on Sunday night.
Both players have had solid if unspectacular 2021 campaigns, but both also featured in State of Origin for the Blues in their series win.
Cook's strength has always been his running game, and he had one of his best games of the year last weekend in the prelim against Manly.
The 30-year-old had a try assist, two forced dropouts and ran 101 metres, shaking the tag of underperforming in big games.
Just a day after South Sydney qualified for the decider, Koroisau had his best game of the year and was integral in Penrith's narrow win over the reigning premiers Melbourne.
And it was actually Koroisau's running game that was on show more than usual, running for 87 metres which was his third-highest of the season.
Koroisau is probably the craftier player and has more strings to his bow, but there's no stopping Cook once the Bunnies get on the front-foot and allow him to run the footy.
Whoever can continue their momentum from the prelims in the grand final will play a major role in their chances of lifting the trophy.
ISAAH YEO VS CAMERON MURRAY
It's a debate that has been running rampant in recent weeks, including on Dally M Medal night when Isaah Yeo was awarded Lock of the Year.
Souths fans will defend Murray to the ends of the earth, and rightfully so. The 23-year-old is one of their most important players on both sides of the ball and goes full-throttle on every play.
His play-the-ball speed is ridiculously fast and that brings the aforementioned Cook, as well as Cody Walker, into play in the middle of the field. Defensively he is as good as they come, rarely missing a tackle and cutting down blokes half his size with ease.
Yeo is a workhorse, similar to Murray, but has also developed his ball-playing in recent years. His work on block shapes allows the likes of Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai more room to move out wide and set up their outside backs.
The pair are nearly identical in regards to run metres per game (123 for Murray and 120 for Yeo), tackles per game (35 each) and tackle efficiency (97% for Murray and 98% for Yeo) - there really is no splitting these two.
Murray has more speed and is perhaps more dangerous with ball in hand, but it's going to be a hell of a battle in the middle of the field on Sunday night between these two locks.
Will there be a bit of extra motivation for Murray, after he was forced to play out of position for NSW this year? Probably not, but it's a nice little wrinkle to the story.
TYRONE MAY VS BENJI MARSHALL
A bit of a left-field one here, but certainly a battle that could prove important if the scores are close.
Penrith are the best defensive side in the competition and have been for the past two years. In this year's finals series, they have conceded just 28 points in three games against Souths, Parramatta and Melbourne.
South Sydney have also flexed their defensive muscle in recent weeks, holding the Panthers to just one try just three weeks ago.
If both sides turn up in defence and the scores are close late in the game, expect to see Ivan Cleary and Wayne Bennett look to inject their No.14 utility players into the game.
And with all due respect to Tyrone May, he is nowhere near the level of Benji Marshall as a ball-player and the 36-year-old also has a distinct experience advantage in big games.
Benji has produced 9 try assists and 12 linebreak assists this year, while May has managed five of each.
If the scores are level and the clock is ticking, May will need to pull a rabbit out of the hat to try and provide anything near the level of what Marshal is capable of producing for his side.
