Former Sydney Uni coach Chris Malone may have left Camperdown for Moore Park to take up a role as Waratahs assistant coach, but it seems the former flyhalf still spends plenty of time at University Oval.

“I’ve got a couple of boys that like to ball boy down at Uni and thankfully they still get to do it, so I’ve been down there quite a bit when I haven’t been away,” he told Rugby News.

“I think Uni have done really well. Davo (Tim Davidson) and Carts (Tom Carter) have put a fair few young guys in the team, as you always have to at Sydney Uni, but they’ve backed them and a few of those guys have really stepped up this year.

“They are going to the grand final in good form and I expect them to play well.”

Malone coached both Davidson and Carter to a Shute Shield premiership in 2013 in his first year as head coach at the club.

A changing of the guard followed the 51-6 victory over Eastwood, forcing Malone to blood a handful of future stars across 2014 and 2015.

It’s those players that he thinks will decide Saturday’s grand final against Norths.

“I look at a guy like Jake Wainright who was in his first year last year. He’s really stood up this season and played every game and has been fantastic,” he said.

“Jake Gordon is another, he’s been in here at the Waratahs but I think this year he has taken his game to a new level and he is consistently one of the best players on the field.”

“Then this year, they’ve thrown Hamish Dunbar, Lachlan Swinton and Folau Fainga’a into first grade and they certainly haven’t let anyone down.”

But Malone said Northern Suburbs and a number of their young stars have equally impressed him.

“Obviously the standout player is Will Miller. He’s led the team well and is a really unassuming guy who just loves playing for his club. He drives up from Berry every week and rips in and I think they’ve really built the team around him.”

“I’ve really liked their centres this year, Irae Simone and Jordan Heyer who have both played well.

“Then they’ve added Mike Dowsett and Michael Wells from the Brumbies, so it should be a cracking game.”

After watching both preliminary finals on the weekend, Malone said he thought it would be defence and the battle at the breakdown that will decide Saturday’s grand final.

“Norths were very good at shutting Souths down on the weekend. I think Norths made something like 200 tackles to Souths 60, so it shows that you need to be good with the ball when you have it because Norths know how to defend, they are the best in the comp this year,” he said.

“They’ve got a lot of on-ballers, guys that like to disrupt the ball at the breakdown, so the key for Uni is to make sure they get quick ball and if the can do that, they’ll be hard to contain.”

Sydney Uni beat Norths 40-17 when the two sides met back in round eight. Since then, the Shoreman have won 12 straight matches, however Malone still thinks his former club will be too good on Saturday and will win their eighth premiership in 11 years.

“Playing at North Sydney Oval will make it really tough but I still think that the way University have been playing, they’ll get it done.”

“I’ll pick them to win but by less than seven.”