Two decades, and the illustrious careers of the aforementioned league greats, later and the current crop of young Steelers have a chance at their own slice of history when they face Penrith in Saturday’s SG Ball grand final.

It’s the first time Illawarra has reached a grand final in either junior grade since 1996 and the significance of the opportunity is something coach Shane Millard has sought to impress upon his squad this week.

"They're one win away from being the best under 18s team in NSW and possibly two wins from being the best in the country if they win against the Queensland winner the following week,” Millard said.

"They've got themselves sin the position to do that and they should be very proud of themselves as me and Timmo [assistant coach Shaun  Timmins] are of them.

"You don't talk about it too much early on but as the season's gone on, and we spoke about it on Monday, the stats show we haven't won an SG Ball comp in 20 years, haven't made a grand final in 20 years, haven't made a semi-final in about 13 years.

"It’s like any squad this age, there's kids that won't go any further, there'll be some that go into 20s and some others that'll go into NRL but this can be a lifetime memory for all of them.”

The Steelers have every reason to be confident heading into the the clash at Penrith given their exceptional record of 10 wins from 11 games this season – including two over the Panthers.

They’ve shown some steal in getting there having trailed inside the final five minutes of both their finals clashes before finding a way to win. 

It’s a toughness of character on which their season has been built according to Millard.

"For me an Timmo we talk to the boys about being fit and tough,” Millard said.

"You can add on some basic footy stuff to that but that toughness is what they've really bought into the most. 

“We give away a lot of kilos in size but there's some really tough kids there that are just desperate to win everything, they want to win at training they want to win everything they do. At this level everything can be going your way but t it only takes the smallest error or 50-50 call and the momentum can change completely.

"That's what's happened to us the last few weeks but they’ve been defending for each other desperately and with a great attitude and that's what's kept us in games.

"That's probably a big tick to the boys character to hang in there and fight to the very end. 

“There's been games where we've looked in a bit of trouble but they've just found a way to win. Hopefully we can do that one more time this week.”

The success of the Steelers also bodes well for the future of the club and, like the 1996 side, Millard is confident several members of the current crop can reach the NRL and beyond.

"There'll be a heap that go into 20s and a couple of really special kids that could go beyond NRL,” Millard said.

"The last time they won SG Ball Ben Hornby, Luke Bailey, Matt Cooper and Luke Patten all went on to have great NRL careers and the stats this season show that could happen again.”