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With two comprehensive Elimination Final victories by the Parramatta Eels and Brisbane Broncos, we have just four teams left in contention for the 2009 NRL Premiership.
We head into Week Three of the 2009 NRL Finals Series with the Preliminary Finals on deck, the winners to play in the Grand Final next Sunday.
> 1st Preliminary Final @ ANZ Stadium Friday September 25
BULLDOGS v PARRAMATTA EELS
> 2nd Preliminary Final @ Etihad Stadium Saturday September 26
MELBOURNE STORM v BRISBANE BRONCOS
All teams have been named as of 3pm Tuesday 22 September and are listed below.
Game Video Previews are below - so check them out . If you need more sport - check out the Weekend Sport Preview
A quick recap of the Elimination Finals...
The Parramatta Eels defended superbly, took their chance and handed the lifeless Titans a footballing lesson in what it takes to win Finals Football with a 27-2 win at the SFS. While the Brisbane Broncos sent the Minor Premiers St.George-Illawarra Dragons out in straight sets with a crushing 24-10 win at Suncorp Stadium. It is interesting to note that with the Broncos beating Manly in the Toyota Cup - both Minor Premiers in the NRL and Toyota Cup were winless in the 2009 Finals.
The Bulldogs and Storm had a week off as the two highest ranked winners from Week One and will be refreshed for the Eels and Broncos respectively in the Preliminary Finals.
The Dragons and Titans now join Week One losers the Knights and Sea Eagles in the also-ran category for 2009.
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The Finals Week 3 Matchups are as follows for the Preliminary Finals:
PF1: FRIDAY NIGHT @ ANZ Stadium 8:00pm - Just click here or on the Team Logos Below for the Match Preview when uploaded.
#2 CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS v #8 PARRAMATTA EELS
BULLDOGS: Luke Pattern, Hazem El Masri, Josh Morris, Jamal Idris, Bryson Goodwin, Ben Roberts, Brett Kimmorley, Ben Hannant, Michael Ennis, Michael Hodgson, Greg Eastwood, Andrew Ryan (c), David Stagg. Reserves: Jarrad Hickey, Chris Armit, Yileen Gordon, Gary Warburton.
EELS: Jarryd Hayne, Luke Burt, Krisnan Inu, Joel Reddy, Eric Grothe, Daniel Mortimer, Jeff Robson, Nathan Cayless (c), Matthew Keating, FuiFui MoiMoi, Nathan Hindmarsh, Ben Smith, Todd Lowrie. Reserves: Kevin Kingston, Feleti Mateo, Tim Mannah, Joe Galuvao.
BULLDOGS v EELS VIDEO PREVIEW
PF2: SATURDAY NIGHT @ Eithad Stadium 8:00pm - Just click here or on the Team Logos Below for the Match Preview when uploaded.
#4 MELBOURNE STORM v #6 BRISBANE BRONCOS
STORM: Billy Slater, Steve Turner, Will Chambers, Greg Inglis, Dane Nielsen, Brett Finch, Cooper Cronk, Brett White, Cameron Smith (c), Aiden Tolman, Adam Blair, Ryan Hoffman, Dallas Johnson. Reserves: Ryan Hinchcliffe, Jeff Lima, Ryan Tandy, Wairangi Koopu, Scott Anderson.
BRONCOS: Karmichael Hunt, Antonio Winterstein, Israel Folau, Justin Hodges, Jharal Yow Yeh, Darren Lockyer (c), Aaron Glenn, Nick Kenny, Andrew McCullough, Dave Taylor, Ashton Sims, Sam Thaiday, Corey Parker. Reserves: Lagi Setu, Tonie Carroll, Ben Te'o, Joel Clinton.
STORM v BRONCOS VIDEO PREVIEW
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Next Week (Finals Week Four) - The Grand Final
GRAND FINAL: Sunday 4 October @ ANZ Stadium, Sydney
WINNER OF PF1: / V WINNER OF PF2: /
ELIMINATED TEAMS:
Finals Week One:
Finals Week Two:
Below is the Elimination Finals Review & first look at the Preliminary Finals Matchups Video.
There will be full game previews uploaded this later week, but the best way to follow the 2009 Finals Series is to go to NRL_Finals_2009 on Twitter. During the first two and a half weeks of operation, we produced 500+ Tweets - with some great nuggets of information in there, as well as news as it breaks. For the games themselves, regular Tweets will be uploaded giving you an instant evaluation of how the game is being played out and what to watch out for during the match. You can check out the In-Game Tweets within the Game Reports from all played semi finals - just click on the linked articles on the drop down archive menu on the right of this page.
Subscribe today and get involved with feedback - either here at wdnicolson.blogspot.com, at NRL_Finals_2009 on Twitter or via email wdnicolson@optusnet.com.au.
So get on board and may the best team emerge from a great month of football to take the 2009 premiership.
