Brothers head coach Ben McCormack says his side is “quietly confident” ahead of Sunday’s Hospital Cup grand final, but says they enter the decider as underdogs against a “glamour” Bond outfit riding a fairytale run of form.

Brothers are chasing a third straight premiership and bring a wealth of big-game experience, but face a Bull Sharks side on an eight-game winning streak, fresh from cruising past Easts 47-14 in last weekend’s preliminary final.

It is Bond’s first ever Hospital Cup grand final appearance since joining Premier Grade, with the Gold Coast region last celebrating a title back in 2004 when the now-defunct Breakers claimed the crown.

Rugby News caught up with McCormack to hear how Brothers are preparing for the showdown and what he makes of Mick Heenan’s resurgent side.

How has training been this week?

“Mate, training has been good. We’ll have our main session tonight (Tuesday),” McCormack said.

“We did a little bit last night, but tonight’s where the hard work will get put in. Everything so far has gone the way we want it to.”

How much confidence is there internally, given so many of the squad have won premierships in recent years?

“We’re always quietly confident. I’ve got a really good group of players and coaches, and they’ve won a lot of footy over a long period of time now,” he said.

“They obviously haven’t gone undefeated or anything like that, but more often than not, when they need to figure out a way to win, they do. Winning becomes a habit, and we’ve gotten into that habit pretty well over the last couple of years.

“So, I think there’s a quiet confidence around the place. But it’s hard to be overtly confident when you watch what Bond have done the last couple of weeks.

“Watching them do a demolition job on Easts last weekend probably squashed any of that. Everyone knows we’ve got a fair job in front of us.”

Do you feel this is the grand final between the two best sides in the competition?

“Bond have always had the potential to be the best side in the comp,” McCormack said.

“I think they probably frustrated themselves a little bit earlier in the competition – they lost a few games they probably should have won and it took a little bit of time to get on their feet.

“But once they got up and running, they’ve definitely been the form team of the competition. I think Wests and Bond, to finish the year, you’d have thought it’d be hard to see anyone beating them.

“Whilst we’ve been winning, it probably hasn’t been polished, so we haven’t had as many people talking about us as usual. We’ve just been finding a way and winning a bit ugly at times.”

What’s the game plan against Bond?

“We’ll attack the way we always do. We’ve got a pretty strong identity in how we like to use the ball, so nothing will change for us in attack,” he said.

“Defensively, though, we’re going to have to be a lot more switched on. Bond bring a lot of deception and they’ve got a lot of strings in their bow.

“They attack from a lot of different angles in a lot of different ways, so we’re going to have to be really sharp in defence to handle them.”

What’s it like going head-to-head with Mick Heenan in a grand final?

“It’s always good. I’ve got a really healthy respect for Mick and his coaching team – he’s got a great group around him,” he said.

“Mick’s been there and done that for a number of clubs over a number of years. He’s like the Wayne Bennett of Queensland Premier Rugby. It’d be great to get one over him – the young bull over the old bull.

“But the old fellas are pretty wily, so no doubt he’ll have some tricks up his sleeve.”