Illawarra Coal League liftout inside Saturday's Mercury.
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The 2012 Illawarra Coal Cup grand final takes on special significance for livewire Wests halves, brothers Blake and Nathan Dureau.
They will be chasing a fourth straight premiership with the Red Devils, and this will also be Blake's last game for the club and potentially his last game alongside Nathan.
Blake and his wife Tahnee have moved to Denman in the Hunter Valley where he has a job in the open-cut mine. They are also closer to Tahnee's family.
"[Grand Final Day] will have a bit of meaning about it, a bit of a special occasion. So it makes it even more of an important day," Blake said.
"Nat's pretty settled in Wollongong at the moment. Maybe in the future he may be back up this way, but I doubt if we'll get to play footy together again."
The brothers have had a lot of fun playing alongside each other, including in three premierships with Wests and the chance tomorrow to make it four in a row.
"It's been a very good three or four years now. We've enjoyed playing footy together ... it's been fantastic," Nathan said.
Devils halfback Blake, 25, is 20 months older than five-eighth Nathan, 23, and they have an uncanny sort of telepathy in high pressure situations.
The Dureau brothers' skills and understanding were epitomised recently when Nathan scored his second try of the game against Helensburgh in the major semi-final off a beautifully executed and positioned chip kick by Blake.
Their skills also have been showcased on the representative scene in a similar vein to sink Newcastle 20-16 at Cessnock in June, 2010, for Illawarra to claim a record fourth straight CRL divisional championship. They have also represented NSW Country.
"Over the years we're starting to learn a lot of each other's games and that's probably the biggest bonus we have. Maybe a lot of halves don't have the sort of combination that we do," Nathan said.
"We've got a few winks and whistles and all sorts of stuff that come into it. We know what we're talking about without saying anything, that's a big bonus for us."
It was in the Hunter Valley that the Dureau brothers kicked off their love of footy, firstly as kids at Merriwa, later at Denman as 18s and first grade.
When they came to Illawarra, Blake played 20s for the St George Illawarra Dragons and Nathan 18s for the Steelers. In his last year of 18s Nathan played first grade for Corrimal and 20s for the Dragons.
They followed newly appointed Wests coach Paul McGregor to the Red Devils and the rest, as they say, is history.
"I've been pretty lucky with my coaches over the years," Nathan said.
"When I came down here I had Steve Price, he was my first coach at 20s, 'Mary' [McGregor] for three years and now Reece [Simmonds] has been my latest coach. So I've been very lucky.
"Pricey was a big influence on my playing career, 'Mary' obviously had a massive influence, not just as a player but as a man, growing up.
"He's helped me with a lot of stuff, not just with footy but with life in general."
Like Nathan, Blake believes their understanding comes as second nature and he also has a huge rap on McGregor and now Simmonds.
"'Mary' was so thorough. He knows the game and he knows how to pass on his knowledge ... and now Reece has done a great job," Blake said.
At the completion of the regular season Blake was the league's leading points scorer with 121 from three tries, 54 goals and one field goal.
"The first year I was there [at Wests], 2009, I was leading points scorer and the last year I'm going to be there and I'm leading points scorer," he said.
"So it's good to have those little achievements you can get at the end of the year ... you get rewarded for your efforts throughout the year as far as goalkicking and that sort of thing goes."
Like their teammates, the Dureau brothers know the Devils will have to play at their best to defeat Thirroul, who are in their 19th successive first grade finals series.
"They're born for semi-finals aren't they. They play that semi-final sort of football," Blake said.
"They complete their sets, get to a kick, build pressure, and they've got that never-say-die sort of attitude, so it's no surprise that they're in the grand final."
Like all halves, Blake and Nathan pay tribute to their forward pack.
"That's why we've been so good for the last four years," Blake said.