This is the 27th Cup grand final and the seventh at Kayo Stadium. Burleigh have played in a premiership decider twice before at the ground - a loss in 2003 and a victory in 2019 - while the Tigers have never played a grand final at Kayo Stadium
This is the 11th time that the grand final has been played between the first-placed team (Bears) and the third-placed team (Tigers) after the regular season. The team that came first - the minor premiers - have won seven of these encounters
This is the 20th time the minor premiers have made the grand final, winning 11. The third-placed team has been in 16 grand finals, winning five
Burleigh have won the past three meetings between these two sides
The Bears and Tigers have met once before in a grand final, clashing in 2004 with Burleigh walking away victorious with a 22-18 win. Shane O’Flanagan scored the match winner after 17 minutes of extra time
Luke Burt is the 18th coach to make the grand final in his first year coaching. Ten of the 18 have gone on to win. Burt has coached 23 Cup games with 17 wins, one draw and four losses, giving him a 76 per cent success record
Matt Church is the first coach to make a grand final after coaching a different club the previous year. Church coached the PNG Hunters from 2020 to 2022. This is his 60th game as a Cup coach. Church has a 52.5 per cent success record with 30 wins, two draws and 27 losses
Both teams have won their last five games. This is only the second time both teams have gone into the grand final on the back of at least 5 wins. The other occasion was in 2015 when the Ipswich Jets (who finished third) beat the Townsville Blackhawks (minor premiers) 32-20
Burleigh playmaker Tyrone Roberts and Brisbane backrower Leivaha Pulu will both be playing in their third consecutive grand final, having both played for Norths Devils in their 2021 and 2022 wins. Fifteen players have previously played in three a row, but none have ever won three in a row
This is the Bears’ seventh Cup grand final. They have four premierships (1999, 2004, 2016 and 2019)
This is the Tigers’ sixth grand final. They have lost all previous five finals in 1997, 2004 (to Burleigh), 2013, 2014 and 2018
I am going Blackhawks- this is where the Blackhawks poor Cup season will pay off- four of their starting pack in Colts has played Cup.
They may have got bashed in Cup, but they should come back to Colts and play well.
Shibasaki and Sullivan will be too strong on the edges for Easts to hold them. If they manage to stop either of them then Jesse Yallop will get two tries.
Blackhawks to go back-to-back and win the last the Colts premiership.
The QRL made the call to bring the season forward a week and give the premiers two weeks before the State game. Interesting to see if that makes a difference.
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