It was played between the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the New Zealand Warriors on the afternoon of Sunday, 2 October,[1] and it was the first time the two sides have met in a grand final.

[5] Steve Matai and Tony Williams were reported to the NRL's match review committee for incidents during the win over Brisbane, raising the prospect that they may be suspended for the Grand Final.

[9] They then upset the Wests Tigers in the semi-finals after many gave them a slim chance of winning and they were down 18–6 at half time before mounting a comeback to be down just 20–18 with a few minutes remaining before Kristian Inu scored the match winner for the Warriors as they won 22–20.

The New Zealand Warriors were down 6-0 after 5 minutes due to some poor defence that Gareth Widdop took advantage of to put Sika Manu through a gap to score; the try was converted by Cameron Smith.

[11] Coincidentally, his last match as a player was when he was the fullback in the New Zealand Warriors side that lost the 2002 Grand Final to the Sydney Roosters, another club Cleary played for in the NRL.

Cleary grew up on Sydney's northern beaches, and started his professional career with Manly playing alongside Des Hasler, now his opposing coach.

The Warriors' Toyota Cup successfully defended its 2010 title defeating the North Queensland Cowboys in golden point extra time by the scoreline of 31–30.

Russell Packer, Lance Hohaia and Elijah Taylor swapped places with Sam Rapira, Aaron Heremaia and Feleti Mateo respectively from their interchange spots before the match.

However, Manly broke clear with two tries before half-time, the first just two minutes later to Brett Stewart, and the second just on half-time (which attracted controversy due to a possible obstruction in the lead-up)[20] to Daly Cherry-Evans, one play after an audacious grubber kick from lock forward Glenn Stewart on his own 20 metre line which was gathered in by winger Michael Robertson who broke free despite a desperate attempt by Manu Vatuvei to tackle him.

[21] Manly stretched its lead to 16 points after half-time following a try to Glenn Stewart, set up by a blind flick pass from William Hopoate just before he was pushed into touch.