The preliminary final draw has been confirmed. It will be the Cronulla Sharks against the North Queensland Cowboys in the one and the Melbourne Storm against the Canberra Raiders in the other.
Melbourne and Cronulla, by reason of winning their week one qualifying finals, will get the home ground advantage. The Canberra Raiders will have to travel to Melbourne to take on the minor premier Storm and the North Queensland Cowboys will be bound for Sydney.
The battle of Queensland betwixt the Cowboys and the Raiders was, as expected, an epic battle that needed extra time to be decided. Now, emotionally and physically spent, the Raiders have only seven days to recover. They did have an easier time against the Penrith Panthers in their first finals game.
The winner of the Sharks v Cowboys game and the winner of the Storm v Raiders game will play for the premiership in the Grand Final on October 2 at ANZ Stadium.
Sportsbet has the Cowboys favoured over the Sharks at 1.75 versus 2.05 for the Cronulla side.
In the other game, the Melbourne storm is heavily favoured at 1.40 versus 2.95 for the Canberra Raiders.
What is the world coming to, what with the NSW teams potentially being the AFL Grand Finalists and a team from Victoria leading the odds in the NRL punting?
