Equal top of the ladder teams Valleys and Gatton play for the historic Madsen Rasmussen Cup on Saturday night.
The Toowoomba Rugby League has scheduled the match for Clive Berghofer Stadium from 6.30pm, a change from the previous Sunday fixture.
The Madsen Rasmussen Cup and lead-up President's Cup matches at 1.50pm (under 19s), 3.25pm (women's) and 4.50pm (reserves) will all be available to view on Qplus.tv on Saturday.
Both clubs in A grade are expected to name full strength teams given each club have been affected by injuries.
Toowoomba captain Dwayne Duncan will captain his Valleys side and hopes to
add to the Central region’s 47th Battalion trophy they won in Emerald earlier in the year.
Gatton Hawks captain Haydan Lipp expects a tough tussle between the two clubs, who have a long history of close matches.
Valleys narrowly defeated Gatton 19-10 in Round 2 and each side have been the standout performers this season.
Western Clydesdales-aligned player Hugh Sedger will line up for Valleys, while 18-year-old whiz kid Braiden Driscoll will partner Duncan in the halves.
Up front, Junior Chong Nee is playing well for Valleys, while fullback Dylan Chown continues to impress this season after a long layoff from injury these last couple of seasons.
Gatton, who were soundly beaten in last year’s grand final by Wattles 51-20, have improved this season, especially in defence.
Shannon Hicks, Nick Short and Ben Haviland consistently minimise Hawks’ defensive lapses with Lipp and fullback Luke Self taking advantage. They have played havoc with their opposition all season.
There is no clear favourite in this mid-season grand final, as both teams have only lost one regular season match in 2023.
The match shapes up as one of the closest Cup contests in recent seasons.
