GLEN Lazarus, often remembered as the ‘‘brick with eyes’’, knows plenty about winning big matches. Lazarus collected five premierships with three clubs (Canberra Raiders 1989-90, Brisbane Broncos 1992-93 and Melbourne Storm 1999) during his 13-year first-grade career. The Queanbeyan-born prop played in five consecutive grand finals from 1989 to 1993 and knows what it takes to win a premiership. ‘‘You’ve got to have the right people in the right places,’’ Lazarus said. ‘‘

A successful team starts at the top, in the front office, the people at the top need to be doing their job well. ‘‘Then obviously the coaching staff need to be good and then you need a good side, players in key positions need to be very good.’’ Both Parramatta and Melbourne appear to have the right mix. Melbourne is the envy of the NRL, under coach Craig Bellamy it consistently develops high-class players and is the competition benchmark for tactics. The Storm’s 40-10 thrashing of the Broncos last week put Melbourne into its fourth straight grand final.

Parramatta’s installation of Daniel Anderson as coach and Paul Osborne as chief executive appears to have sparked the Eels to their first grand final since 2001. The Eels steamed into the finals and grand final with a scintillating turn of form in the closing rounds, winning 10 of its last 11 matches. Once in the finals, the Eels accounted for the minor premiers St George- Illawarra and then beat the Bulldogs, 22-12. Lazarus sees similarities between today’s grand final teams and the sides with which he won premierships. ‘‘The Eels are very similar to Melbourne, both sides play similar footy and if you look at their results over the past months they’ve won games by plenty and reduced sides to low scores,’’ Lazarus said. ‘‘

Their packs aren’t monsters but they’re very hard working and both fullbacks are in tremendous form. ‘‘With Canberra we were never known as a dominant forward pack yet we were able to play in three grand finals. We just worked hard and did the job for our wonderful backs. ‘ ‘ M e l b o u r n e a n d Parramatta are both doing that at the moment.’’

For more finals fever, and full match reports of Today's NRL Grand Final, pick up a copy of Tomorrow's Canberra Times.