By MARK CASHMAN

The grand final, the premiership decider, the big dance or as Roy and HG have said the big watusi is with with us and the 2020 Shute Shield champion will be crowned on Saturday at Leichhardt Oval.

Minor premiers, club champions and holders of the Sir Roden Cutler Shield holders Gordon will take on the surprise packet of this Covid-19 affected season Eastwood.

Both teams in with a big chance of holding aloft the Shute Shield a touch before 5pm.

Here’s how the coaches feel about their chances.

GORDON V EASTWOOD at Leichhardt Oval (kickoff 3.10pm)

Eastwood coach Ben Batger knows all about the mind games that are played in grand final week, but on the eve of the Shute Shield premiership decider against Gordon on Saturday he believes, hand on heart, all the pressure is on the Highlanders.

“They’ve had an amazing season, they’ve recruited all these players and have 10 people on their coaching staff. The pressure is all on Gordon,” Batger said this week.

“They’re the ones with the all the expectations. The pressure is on them so we’re just looking forward to enjoying the day and hopefully getting a result.”

And in a way Batger is as bang on as the four penalty goals he kicked to push the Woods to their last premiership back in 2015 against the Manly Marlins.

“We set a goal at the start of the year to make the grand final and I always knew that it would take a bit of time to develop this squad,” Batger added. 

“There have been doubters all year and that has continued into the finals but we’ve always had a lot of self belief within the group that if we could come together and play to our potential, then we could be here.”

The Highlanders under Darren Coleman on the other hand have had one hell of a season, dropping only the one game – against Northern Suburbs in Round 10 – and along the way securing the coveted club championship.

Chatswood Oval is a place to head to on a Saturday afternoon once again, whereas only a couple of seasons ago it must be said that you could have more fun at funeral than there at Albert Ave.

It must be said they have looked nervy in some of their games late in the season when the reality of what was on offer dawned on them but Coleman has managed them through that.

“People keep telling us to just treat it like another week, but I disagree and I told the boys to enjoy it,” Coleman said earlier this week.

“We’ve worked bloody hard for this for the last 11 months and we deserve to be in the position we’re in. 

“Obviously you don’t want to play your game early and you need to be at your best come grand final day, but opportunities like this don’t come around often.”

There’s an old footy adage that teams win games and clubs win premierships and that certainly resonates with Coleman and the Highlanders.

“It’s great to see all the support around the club but I guess the guys I’m most excited for are the players that were playing back in 2017 and 2019 when things weren’t going so well,” Coleman added.

“Guys like Jack Margin, James Lough and Jordy Goddard. It was a tough few seasons and there were a lot of people that could have walked away, but those guys didn’t and now they are playing in a grand final.

“I honestly believe that my guys worked harder then any group during COVID and I said that at the time and no one believed me because everyone thought their team was working hard but I think our form in the first six weeks of the competition proved that.”

“As the season progressed, the rest of the competition probably caught up a bit and Eastwood were a prime example of that.

“Aside from Easts, you’d have to say Eastwood have been the form team over the past six or so weeks and they come into Saturday on the back of two extremely gutsy wins over Easts and Norths.”

Batger is pleased that there is a sprinkling of grand final experience in his squad in the form of Matt Gonzalez, Jed Gillespie and Pat Sio.

“It’s nice to have a bit of grand final experience but in saying that, every grand final is different and Gordon will present their own challenges,” Batger said.

“Tane Edmed has been outstanding. I think the last 20-year old to play flyhalf in a Shute Shield grand final was probably our own Tim Donnelly, so that’s an amazing achievement. 

“He’s just got better every week. Pat Sio’s leadership has been fantastic, Enoki Mulifi has taken his game to the next level, as has Ed Craig.

“We certainly can’t afford to let them get away to a 19-point lead like in our game in the last round before the finals at TG Millner. 

“We know how good they are and we can’t afford to give them easy points. In saying that, we can also take confidence from the fact that we fought back that day and scored 22 unanswered points.

“The old bull Jed Gillespie, in his last game, he’ll be licking his licks a little, as will Ed Craig who has been great this year after making his Super Rugby debut. We’ll certainly look to put the pressure on come scrum time but that is no different to every week.”

The only real selection surprise came from Coleman with him naming his captain Jordy Goddard in the second row when he has spent just about all the season at No.8.

That’s obviously a move to keep the scrum solid and to add another line out target and a nod to the value of Jack Dempsey in the past couple of weeks.

So we come to the final word of the two coaches.

First up coach Coleman:

“It really comes down to when our attack clicks. When we last played Eastwood, we clicked early and scored three quick tries to jump out to a 19-0 lead, whereas last week it took until late in that second half to happen.

“It’s certainly not intentional but I guess we take confidence in knowing that if we do click, we are able to score points quickly.”

Then coach Batger: 

“Any premiership is special, regardless of the circumstances, but I guess the fact that we lost 12 players from last year and have been able to rebuild so quickly, it’s testament to the club.”

“It’s a very different week compared to preparing as a player and I’ve got to say there is probably a lot more work that goes on behind the scenes than most would think, so it’s busy. I’d have to say I’m more nervous as well and I think that will only get worse on Saturday because I’ll know that after a point, there will be nothing else I can do.”

IMAGE: KAREN WATSON