July 28 2021 | Mike Colman

July 28 2021 | Mike Colman

28/07/2021

I reckon we could be seeing a dress rehearsal for this year’s NRL grand final when the Storm play the Panthers  at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night - and who knows, it might even be at the same venue as the competition decider in October...

With Covid throwing the world’s sporting schedules into disarray nothing is set in stone and Queensland has shown it is ready, willing and able to step up when needed. Whether that will see the grand final played outside Sydney for the first time remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain: after the way Queensland has saved the NRL over the last two seasons, the State certainly deserves the honour of hosting the biggest club game of the year.

In the meantime the airlift of all NRL teams to Queensland will see a bonanza of top games played at Suncorp Stadium over the next two weekends.

It starts on Friday night when the Warriors take on the improving Tigers as the curtain-raiser to the Broncos-Cowboys derby.

Then on Saturday it is another double-header, with  the resurgent Raiders looking to make their way into the top eight with a win over the Knights, followed by what could be one of the games of the season between Melbourne and Penrith.

The following Saturday sees a triple-header, with Warriors-Sharks, Roosters-Panthers and Sea Eagles-Storm.

I reckon it doesn’t get much better than that - unless you count the grand final coming to Brisbane, of course.

What do YOU reckon?

YES: The grand final should definitely come to Brisbane after the way Queensland has saved the NRL’s bacon. 

NO: It will never happen. The NRL thinks the game belongs to Sydney. They’d play it on Mars before they give it to Brisbane.