Collegians captain Blake Phillips has twice tasted grand final victory, and been on the flip side the same number of times.

The Devils' Mitch Porter has also tasted defeat in a decider before leading his team to its first premiership in almost a decade last season.

The results have differed, but not a lot else, leaving both well aware that claiming the ultimate prize inevitably comes down to one or two plays.

You often don't know which plays until after the fulltime siren, but neither Phillips or Porter are expecting any surprises.

"My first two grand finals were with Helensburgh and we lost them both," Phillips said.

"As a younger guy I was a bit overwhelmed by the full experience and I looked to the older guys who knew what to expect.

"Now I'm one of the older heads in this team with a lot of younger guys in their first senior grand final.

"It's a cliche, the finals are a whole different ball game. It takes a full 80 minutes. You've got to turn up on the day and, particularly in a grand final."

The early-season sleepers, Collies will head into the decider on an unbeaten nine-game streak which includes an impressive victory over the Devils in round 11.

Their win over Thirroul in the major semi-final was the second of two wins over the minor premiers, with their only two losses this season coming by a combined three points.

LISTEN: Taste of Steel Grand Final edition

The victory over the Butchers in the major that earned the first berth in the big dance has made them the slightest of favourites in the eyes of some.

It's a first for Nathan Fien's young squad, but Phillips has experienced enough to know such tags are meaningless.

"We got it over Thirroul in the major but I don't think you could all anyone favourites," Phillips said.

"Everyone's going to be giving a hundred per cent and it's just about being the first team that can bring it all together."

It's been a drastically different path to the decider for the defending premiers after taking the direct route to the grand final via the major semi-final last season.

Some late season wobbles saw them drop out of the top two and needing to navigate a minor semi-final against Helensburgh in week one of the finals.

They came through unscathed and gave every indication that they's peaking at the perfect time in overhauling a 10-0 deficit to beat Thirroul 24-16 in last week's prelim.

It's been a bumpier ride this time around, but skipper Mitch Porter is confident his side can grand back-to-back crowns.

"I think we've had a contrasting year to last year but I think it's been a blessing in disguise the road we've had," Porter said.

"We've got the same group of boys from last year, with a couple of younger ones, who know what to expect on grand final day and what to do in those crucial situations.

"I think we showed that last week. We were down 10-0 after 10 minutes but we just played out the 80 minutes.

"I think most teams would throw in the towel and Thirroul would've run all over them but we've just developed that knack of thinking 'all right we're in the trenches together, let's start fighting'."