Grand Finals Preview:

Whichever you prefer between AFL and NRL, it's a battle of Australia's two biggest cities this weekend - with both ending up winners, regardless of who wins on the field.

The showpiece AFL event is on Saturday between minor premiers Hawthorn and the team which, for some, has been the surprise packet of the season, the Sydney Swans. Hawthorn almost stumbled against the Adelaide Crows last week, while the Swans dealt with last years Grand Finalists, Collingwood, convincingly. Between them, the two teams have won 14 VFL/AFL premierships in the 117 year history of a season deciding Grand Final with Hawthorn having the clear edge of 10 wins to 4. 

When the two teams met in August, Hawthorn had the better of the contest with a 7 point win; and at the MCG, Hawthorn has a clearly superior record. Hawthorn has won 12 of its 15 games played there this season while the Swans have lost 11 of the past 13 games they have played there - and have only graced its turf once in 2012.

The midfield battle and who controls it will be critical; but all around the park both sides have genuine stars in key positions. Players to look out for include Lance Franklin, Cyril Rioli, Luke Hodge & Jarryd Roughhead (Hawthorn) and the wonderful Adam Goodes, Shane Mumford, Lewis Jetta & Lewis Roberts-Thompson (Sydney Swans).

The NRL Grand Final is on Sunday between the two dominant teams of 2012: minor premiers, Canterbury Bulldogs, and Melbourne Storm. The Bulldogs haven't won a Grand Final since 2004 while Melbourne Storm were stripped of two premierships in 2007 and 2009 because of salary cap breaches.

In the head-to-head battle, the teams have met 29 times previously with the Bulldogs having a slight edge, 15-14 - but Melbourne Storm have a very good record playing Canterbury at Sydney's ANZ Stadium. The last time they met at the venue was in 2008 when a rampant Melbourne Storm gave the demoralised Bulldogs a 46-0 drubbing. 

But, as this year has proven, the Canterbury Bulldogs today under coach Des Hasler are a very different outfit to four years ago. Not only did the Bulldogs defeat Storm 20-4 in their most recent match, but they have been pretty much unstoppable most of the season.

The key is to break Melbourne's tackling ability and defensive line with the Bulldogs expected to use their bigger players effectively to get on top in the middle and push Storm's defenders ever wider. Players to look out for are Krisnan Inu, Kris Keating, Sam Kaisiano and Michael Ennis (Bulldogs) and Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Ryan Hoffman (Melbourne Storm).

Regardless of the action on the respective fields, the big winners this weekend are expected to be the hospitality, tourism and sports betting sectors - as well as the television networks hosting the two marquee matches.

According to IBISWorld General Manager, Karen Dobie, Australians are expected to spend $272 million on Grand Finals related activity, including 22,000 fans who will travel to watch the games first hand. The travel and accommodation alone is estimated to give a weekend power boost to the domestic tourism industry of $15 million.

“The fact that Sydney and Melbourne are represented in both grand finals is particularly good news for Australia’s hospitality and tourism industries and television networks – with more Australians than ever expected to travel or tune in to watch both codes this weekend,” said Dobie.

“Both the Melbourne Cricket Ground and ANZ Stadium are expected to sell out for the games, and TV viewership of for both codes is expected to reach 4.5 million.”

IBISWorld expects the 2012 Grand Final football weekend to generate $45 million for pubs and bars and $60 million for liquor retailers – with majority of spending taking place in Sydney and Melbourne. Ticket sales are expected to reach $76 million, with 180,000 Australians attending an AFL or NRL final.

You can watch the AFL Grand Final on Seven with the match commencing at 2.30pm AEST on Saturday - but it's generally worth tuning-in earlier for the Grand Final entertainment. The NRL Grand Final is broadcast on Nine with the match commencing at 5.00pm AEST on Sunday.

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*  Sydney Swans and Melbourne Storm