MYLES HOULBROOK-WALK, REPORTER:  This weekend millions will watch the NRL’s showpiece event: the grand final between the Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm.

FOOTBALL COMMENTATOR: And they’re heading to the grand final again. 

FOOTBALL COMMENTATOR: Brisbane Broncos are about to go back to the NRL Grand Final. 

RYAN HOFFMANN, FMR STORM PLAYER:  Last game of the season with all the hype, all the buildup. It’s a very, very special day.

MYLES HOULBROOK-WALK: But for one player, this game is a chance for redemption.

FOOTBALL COMMENTATOR: From right to left …. 

MYLES HOULBROOK-WALK: Ten years ago, Ben Hunt made a calamitous error during extra time in the grand final against the Cowboys. 

One of Hunt’s close mates was mere metres away when it all happened.

ANDREW MCCULLOUGH, FMR BRONCOS PLAYER:  That moment obviously it was pinned on Ben, but I just look back down the whole game and think if only we did certain things differently, we shouldn’t have got to that point.

MYLES HOULBROOK-WALK: Andrew McCullough was a longtime teammate of Ben Hunt and has a sense that the Bronco could put to bed the moment that has haunted him.

ANDREW MCCULLOUGH: For him to go through all that now and the way he’s progressed and got out the other side, it’s quite a remarkable story. 

I do want him to win, but my minds already made up with him. I’m really proud of the person that he is. 

MYLES HOULBROOK-WALK: Standing in Ben Hunt’s way is a sporting juggernaut – the Melbourne Storm.

RYAN HOFFMAN:  I think they’ve played in 10 out of the last 11 preliminary finals, which is absolutely unheard of. You’re right, 11 grand finals since 2006. It’s a great testament.

MYLES HOULBROOK-WALK: Ryan Hoffman has experienced both sides of grand finals – the ecstasy of premiership glory ecstasy of premiership glory and the agony of defeat. 

He played in the 2006 grand final when the Broncos beat the Storm. 

RYAN HOFFMAN:  It’s a devastation and it’s a feeling that can bubble up in a number of emotions. For me, for the first one, I sat in the middle of Stadium Australia there and balled my eyes out.

I was fortunate enough to win the next year in 2007, it’s elation. 

MYLES HOULBROOK-WALK: One player pivotal to the Storm’s premiership challenge is their play-maker, Jahrome Hughes. 

FOOTBALL COMMENTATOR: Hughes is there, Jehrome Hughes plants it down. 

MYLES HOULBROOK-WALK: He’s made a miraculous comeback from a fractured arm just weeks ago. 

BRIEN SEENEY, PHYSIOTHERAPIST:  When I first saw it, I thought Melbourne we’re going to be in a lot of trouble heading into the final series. 

MYLES HOULBROOK-WALK: Brien Seeney is a physiotherapist in Queensland and runs the renowned social media account NRL Physio. 

He was stunned Hughes could return after his injury.

BRIEN SEENEY:  Last week when he played, he scored an absolutely barnstorming individual try, palming off with the arm that is fractured. Yeah, just insane. 

MYLES HOULBROOK-WALK: He might be captain of the Melbourne Storm but Harry Grant started his journey in Central Queensland.

TERRY HANSEN, FMR COACH: He’s crafty and tenacious. He was always destined to be captain because he’s always led by example. He’s a cool head. 

MYLES HOULBROOK-WALK: In Yeppoon, Harry Grant honed his craft under the stewardship of junior coach, Terry Hansen. 

The wisened coach also mentored Ben Hunt who he thinks will shake off the past.

TERRY HANSEN:  Nobody drops the ball on purpose. It is what it is. It was a mistake. And there’s a game of rugby league and there’s lots of mistakes in the game made by lots of different players.

MYLES HOULBROOK-WALK: With the gift of hindsight, we asked Ben Hunt what he’d tell his younger self.

BEN HUNT, BRONCOS PLAYER: All I’d say to myself back then is keep your head up and keep on moving. That’s kind of what I ended up doing, tried to live life and tried to put it behind me as best I could

MYLES HOULBROOK-WALK: For some the way to avoid heartbreak on the big day is pre game rituals and superstitions.

Brisbane’s Reece Walsh has perhaps the most strange.

REECE WALSH:  You just, toilet water… 

MYLES HOULBROOK-WALK: The star went viral after filming himself drinking toilet water, joking it helped him with his recovery. It’s become a running gag since.

Before both teams close ranks and focus on the game we asked whether the ritual had become a group activity. 

Obviously we know Reece Walsh has taken to one pre and post game superstition around toilet water, have any of the other Broncos taken it on?

BEN HUNT:  No.

MYLES HOULBROOK-WALK: Whatever preparation each player takes on, the match will be settled on Sunday.