The NRL Grand Final is finally here and we've got the Brisbane Broncos taking on the North Queensland Cowboys ... in Sydney. It's Monday and right now I'm just stoked that we have two Queensland teams in the Grand Final for the first time ever. 

Sydney's a bit of a fish-bowl with regards to the NRL - so many players talk about getting out of Sydney and out of their comfort zone and it's safe to say that the NRL is dominated by Sydney's heft presence. For a long time I liked that and I just thought it was part of Australia's segmentation with Sydney loving the NRL and Melbourne loving the AFL but the last few years have shown me that the NRL is as important in Queensland as it is in Sydney, if not more important. 

But up until this point we haven't really seen anything too concrete to back that up, besides Queensland's State Of Origin dynasty. Having two Queensland NRL teams takes the cake though and it highlights how prominent the NRL is in Queensland and there's no better time to highlight this as the NRL contemplates expansion. With Queensland the best rugby league state/area in the world, it only makes sense for the NRL to chuck another team there when they get around to expansion - this is bad news for that Wellington NRL bid.

I think we're all hoping that Justin Hodges gets off his charge, but I'm not sure about this 'he doesn't deserve to miss a Grand Final' business. Just because it's a Grand Final doesn't mean that the rules suddenly change but I'm still sending prayers up to God, Jah, Buddha and Allah that Hodges somehow beats the case. Hodges is easily hate-able, but he's also the best centre in the game and it would be awesome to see Hodges go out on a winning note.

Hodges' absence could be great news for our own kiwi lad Jordan Kahu who goes equally as well at centre as he does on the wing. 

Right now I'm so confused by the NRL that I wouldn't be mad if they just flipped the script and agreed with whatever defence Hodges has. The NRL have shown all season long that they don't really care for consistency and common sense, so I'm hoping that they live up to the reputation they have earned and Hodges is all good to go. I think we as fans deserve it ya know?

The other major yarn right now is the fitness of Jonathan Thurston - he'll definitely play. But you've got to imagine that Thurston will be chillin' like a villain in Townsville this week and won't be doing too much hard stuff at training. In the past this would have been a super duper important yarn because Thurston has been the only real hope (plus Matty Bowen!) for the Cowboys but this year is different and Thurston won't need to over-do anything this week or on Sunday.

Thurston's obviously crucial to the Cowboys but the likes of Michael Morgan, Lachlan Coote, Jake Granville and Rory Kostjasyn have been fantastic all season. They have (along with a great forward pack) made this team the best Cowboys team ever and there won't be too much more for the Cowboys to do at training this week as the combinations are all in place. Thurston won't need to do too much at training which will see him fit and firing come Sunday.

It's Monday. Right now I'm highly excited because I reckon this is the best Grand Final we've had in a few years, especially compared to last year's Grand Final where you always kinda felt like the Rabbitohs would win. My heart is torn between the Broncos and Cowboys, so is my head as they are both extremely good at this rugby league thing.

It's Monday and there's plenty of time to predict things, but is there much point? 

I'm just excited about the show. This is easily the most excited I've ever been about a Grand Final.