"There's niggle and that sort of thing in any game, but you can go beyond the niggle and cross the line," Kite said. "I think I'll just leave it at that. The refs seem to be cracking down on anything around the head or anything that tickles blokes up the wrong way. There's niggle and stuff that goes on all through the game, but if it's a case of your team losing momentum as a result of it, I think you have to highlight that fact and stand up for yourself.

"You steel yourself for a big game. You know everyone is going to be tearing in and you're going to have to tear in yourself."

Melbourne snuck home 16-10 in their last battle at Brookvale. A fourth straight loss to the premiers led the Manly doomsayers to claim the Sea Eagles were simply unable to beat the premiers, but Kite said Manly finished that game knowing they were breathing down their rivals' necks.

"We were on their line towards the end of that game, we finished it very strong, we had a try disallowed - we could have won it," Kite said.

"I remember everyone saying before the game that if we couldn't beat them that night, we'd never beat them. But then afterwards people were saying we were a big chance, just because it was such a tough and close game."

Manly prop Josh Perry said Kite didn't take any garbage from Crocker last time they clashed.

"He [Crocker] plays it pretty hard and so do we," Perry said. "We'll be giving as good as we get again. I suppose you could expect more of the same in a grand final. We took a lot of confidence out of that game.

"We didn't win the match but we went really well. Two good forward packs - it's going to be on again.

"No one will be leaving anything out there. I can't wait to get into it. A bit of niggle fires everyone up just that little bit more. Last time, I think there was a little bit in the tackle that a few people didn't see.

"I suppose Kitey just didn't want to take any shit that night - and he didn't. It was an awesome night."

Manly's interchange prop Jason King said: "He [Crocker] can be a really destructive player on his day.

"He's definitely somebody we'll have to contain, but he's not their only threat. He's an aggressive player but I don't think anybody will be getting caught up in any niggle or anything like that. It's too big a spectacle to do anything stupid."

Another Manly forward, Mark Bryant, said Kite would not have reacted so violently at Brookvale unless he had been provoked.

"That was a good game of footy, a great game of footy, and I think this will be exactly the same," Bryant said. "Kitey is a Christian so whatever happened to him, to make him react like that, was obviously pretty bad."

Kite and Crocker declined to be photographed together during the week. The Manly and Melbourne players refused to board the same ferry for a promotion. Feelings are running high. Kite shook hands with referee Tony Archer at the grand final breakfast. Crocker talked throughout the function, until his jaw dropped when the farewell tribute came and went without him.