PREVIEWS: NSWRL Junior Rep Grand Finals

As the NRL resumes after the break for the representative round, the NSWRL Junior Representatives season comes to its pinnacle moment, the grand finals for both the Harold Matthews Cup and the SG Ball Cup which both will be played at Leichhardt Oval on Saturday.

The Junior Representative season is played between 17 teams from across NSW in the Harold Matthews Cup and in the SG Ball there are 16 teams from NSW with the WA Reds also participating in the SG Ball.

In recent seasons we have seen the same 4-5 teams dominant the competition especially on grand final day but 2015 has seen a changing of the guard with the Sharks making both grand finals after years of domination by the Panthers, Eels and Knights. The junior reps are the perfect place to see some of the players who will be in the Holden Cup and even the NRL in the not so distant future, for example recent Panthers debutant Robert Jennings who started last season in the SG Ball - 12 months later he was playing NRL.

Harold Matthews Cup (U16's)
GAME: Parramatta Eels V Cronulla Sharks
Time/Venue: 11:00am Saturday @ Leichhardt Oval
Referee: Tim Hannon, Touch Judges: Cameron Paddy & Cameron Turner
In-Goal Officials: Shaun Greentree & Daniel Luttringer

The 2015 Harold Matthews Cup grand final will take place between the undefeated Parramatta Eels and the Cronulla Sharks who finished the regular season in fifth.

The Harold Matthews Cup competition in 2015 has been absolutely dominated this year by the Parramatta Eels who across their eight regular season games (had one bye) had a for and against of +224 which was 70 points better off than any of the other teams in the whole of the Harold Matthews Cup. The Eels closest win of the season was incidentally to the Sharks who they defeated 22-10 at Blacktown right back in the second round of the competition.

The Cronulla Sharks on the hand finished the regular season with four wins, three losses and a draw from their eight games. The Sharks season was one of ups and downs with the season beginning with a bye before starting their season with two straight losses to Parramatta and the Bulldogs before beginning a 5 game unbeaten run which included a draw to Canberra in round 6 and ended with a loss in the final round to South Sydney at Redfern Oval

The road to the grand finals have been very different for the two sides with Cronulla having to play in all three weeks of the finals whilst the Eels have had two comprehensive victories in their two matches after getting the week off after their first week finals victory.

The Eels come into the grand final with two very easy wins, they opened their finals with a dominant 42-6 win at Penrith then at St Marys last week they had very little problem overcoming the Balmain Tigers 38-8 in wet conditions.

The Sharks on the other hand come through their finals matches with a slightly tougher journey having to play all three weeks, in week one the Sharks scored a 34-18 win over Manly then in week two the points flowed for the Sharks when they scored a 56-28 victory of the Wests Magpies both at Campbelltown Stadium. Last Saturday the Sharks scored a tough 38-18 victory in a fiery match up against the Canterbury Bulldogs.

Prediction: The Eels have been ultra-dominant over the rest of the competition and the way they dispatched with both Wests and Balmain cannot be ignored, the team is full of extreme talent and whilst the Sharks have been dominant in there games, this Parramatta side is one classy team that the Eels will have fun with in the future - Eels by 18.

SG BALL CUP (U18s)
GAME: South Sydney Rabbitohs V Cronulla Sharks
Time/Venue: 1:00pm Saturday @ Leichhardt Oval
Referee: Martin Jones Touch Judges: Nathan Loveday & Joel Mani
In-Goal Judges: Aaron Moller & Oliver Levido

The 2015 SG Ball Cup grand final is an unusual one to say the least with the game taking place between the 7th placed South Sydney and the 8th placed Cronulla Sharks.

Neither side was dominant in the competition with both sides finishing the regular season with 4 wins, 3 losses, 1 draw and a bye. Souths first sign of any form was in round 3 when they had an 18 all draw with the Panthers before having a bye and finishing the back half of the season with 4 straight wins before a last round loss to their grand final opponents the Cronulla Sharks.

The Cronulla Sharks opened their season with the bye but lost their first game of the season before picking up a win, a draw and then another win over the next three weeks before back to back losses and then back to back wins in rounds 7 & 8 and capped off by that last round loss against Souths.

The road to the Grand Final has been a long on for both sides as they had to play in all three matches and both sides had tough matches that got them into this position.

South Sydney come into the grand final with a win in the first week over the Knights 34-30 then it was a late try in the 66th minute that helped the Rabbitohs to a 12-6 win over the Balmain Tigers at Leichhardt Oval. Last weekend in atrocious conditions they needed an extra 30 seconds of golden point to score a lucky 14-10 victory in a game where the players had to contend with puddles of surface water after torrential rain.

Meanwhile the Sharks come into the grand final also off a tough finals series run where in the first week the Sharks had to survive a massive comeback and scored a last minute field goal to take a 25-24 victory over the Parramatta Eels at Penrith and then were giant killers in the second week of the finals where they beat minor premiers Canberra 29-22. In their preliminary final the Sharks had to face the Penrith Panthers and it was a repeat of the previous week's NRL clash with a twist, the match saw the battle of the five-eighths who just happened to be the sons of the respective NRL coaches. The battle was going to be a tough one with the match being the fourth match on a ground that had to deal with three previous matches through torrential rain. The game was shaped around the Sharks defence which was absolutely superb having to weather consistent pressure from the Panthers attack. Although the score finished 12-0 there was plenty of positives in the game attacking wise for the Sharks with good chances and plenty of potential for points in dry conditions in the grand final.

Prediction: Both teams came through last week's game only scoring 14 & 12 points respectively but the attack of both sides must be respected with the plenty of talent right across the park. The Sharks defensive game was one of the best on show last week and in previous weeks they showed attacking flair which I think just gives them the edge on Saturday although South Sydney won't be easy to beat and this game could easily go to golden point though if the Sharks take the same mentality in defence as they did last weekend then they will be hard to beat. My tip is Sharks by 4.

WATCH: Catch the action of the Harold Matthew's Cup live on stream - here.