Brisbane City were too strong for the Eagles © Getty Images

Enlarge

After 10 weeks of player discovery, developmental opportunities and high-quality football, the inaugural National Rugby Championship will draw to a close when Brisbane City host Perth Spirit in the grand final at Ballymore on Saturday.

Perth, amazingly, snuck into the finals with just three regular season wins, and they now find themselves in the final after shocking highly fancied Melbourne Rising in the semis. Brisbane have been much more consistent, scoring six wins and only losing twice.

The finalists faced off in Perth back in round two both finalists, Brisbane taking the points with a hard-fought 26-21 win, but Spirit utility back Zack Holmes believes a lot was learned in that defeat.

"We were favourites that day and had all our contracted guys playing, but they managed to control field position and as a result outplayed us," Holmes told ESPN. "We have since watched the review and are confident of turning that around."

Asked how the mood was among the playing group heading into the final, Holmes said it was rather relaxed despite the obvious excitement. "Everyone is quite relaxed and we don't believe we have too many expectations on us. We have had a few light training sessions and we will be ready to go and enjoy Saturday."

Liam Gill, instrumental in Brisbane's win over New South Wales Country Eagles, says City are remaining focus on the basics. "There's a lot of excitement at the moment and it's great to be playing in a final," Gill told ESPN. "But there won't be any change of focus. We will prepare the same as last week and hopefully get the same result."

Gill believes having the final staged at Ballymore is already a "massive advantage" to his Brisbane team, but Holmes is not so convinced. "We are travelling quite a bit so we are sort of used to it now to be honest," Holmes said. "Obviously it's not preferable but it's something that you have to do and it is something that we will do."

Gill is adamant that Brisbane must sharpen their defence if they are to be crowned champions. "We really need to tighten up our defence," Gill told ESPN. "We have been prone to leak at the start, chase down and then defend like crazy. So we really need to be switched on when we get going."

Brynard Stander has been a star for the Spirit © Sonny Harmanto

Enlarge

Team News

Brisbane City have named seven players with Super Rugby experience, including the all_reds back-row of Curtis Browning, Gill and Jake Schatz, with just one injury-enforced change to the starting XV that defeated the Eagles. City centre Samu Kerevi was ruled out with a quadriceps injury, replaced by Jack Mullins. Queensland Premier Rugby-winning Easts utility Mullins started and scored a try against Canberra Vikings at Suncorp Stadium two weeks ago.

"Samu has had a strong presence for City all season, but this side has made its way to the final through the collective efforts of the entire squad and depth has been one of our strongest assets," Brisbane coach Nic Stiles said. "Jack Mullins has a lot of experience in Premier Rugby, having captained Easts to a title in 2013, and has played inside centre for us previously and played well.

"The key for us this weekend is our attitude. We've had our ups and downs, but we've worked hard and earned a home grand final and the guys are proud of that and excited for the opportunity to play at Ballymore again. Our season has been based on hard work and enjoyment, so I expect nothing less from them this weekend."

Nick Frisby has overcome a lower back complaint sustained in the semi-final to retain his spot as starting scrum-half, alongside Jake McIntyre at fly-half.

Perth Spirit named an unchanged 23-man side to take on Brisbane City, the only change seeing Ammon Matuauto and Junior Rasolea trading jerseys in the centres.

"A lot of hard work and commitment has gone into this season and we're very excited to contest the inaugural NRC grand final this Saturday," Spirit coach Kevin Foote said the team is excited for Saturday's grand final. "It's humbling to have this opportunity and we are looking forward to the challenge. Our effort last week against the Rising was outstanding and we know we will need to match that this week against a Brisbane City side that have a number of strong ball-runners and will be physical at the breakdown and strong at set-piece.

"This competition has allowed us to expose 42 Perth-based players - including 25 outside of the Force senior squad - to high-level rugby and it has broadened our playing base in Western Australia as well as allowing us to continue to build our Super Rugby program. This is a big occasion and the boys are looking forward to getting out there, playing for each other and representing our passionate fans and WA rugby community."

City: Brando Va'aulu; Chris Kuridrani, Toby White, Matt Feaunati; Jack Mullins, Jake McIntyre, Nick Frisby, Jake Schatz, Liam Gill, Curtis Browning; Dave McDuling (captain), Marco Kotze ; Sef Faagase Andrew Ready , Pettowa Paraka. Replacements: Matt Mafi, David Feao, Phil Kite, Tim Buchanan, Adam Korczyk, Will Thompson, James Dalgleish, Junior Laloifi.

Spirit: Dane Haylett-Petty; Luke Morahan, Solomoni RasoleaAmmon Matuauto, Marcel Brache; Zack Holmes, Ian Prior; Alex Rovira, Kane Koteka, Brynard Stander; Brent Murphy, Sam Wykes (captain); Oliver Hoskins, Robbie Abel, Pek Cowan. Replacements: Harry Scoble, Joe Savage, Chris Heiberg, Kieran Stringer, Richard Hardwick, Justin Turner, Davis Tavita, Christian Joubert.