Minor premiers Warilla have enjoyed a week off, while Nowra won a thriller against Shellharbour City on Sunday to qualify.

Gorillas coach Peter Hooper expected they would have to maintain their effort levels for the entire contest to win the premiership.

"They're going to go for 80 minutes," he said.

"They believe in one another and can be hard to contain with the ball in their hands.

"They were last after five rounds . . . they've found a way to grind away.

"It's a grand final; it's no fluke Nowra are there."

Hooper said some of his troops would have preferred to play instead of having the week off.

"We had a tough session on Saturday; I didn't make too many friends there," he said.

"We just need to win the ruck, control the ball as well as we can.

"If we're too ill-disciplined it'll invite Nowra into the game."

Nowra will be boosted for the grand final by the return of captain/coach Ben Wellington.

"The boys have worked so hard, and we've made it hard on ourselves, but we just showed today that we're nearly a complete side," he said.

"We did have the lapse in our game when we leaked points and we just switched off, but to their credit they come home again like they did last week.

"I've never played in a team that has a switch-off like that, everyone just stops tackling and talking.

"It lasts for about five minutes, but as soon as we get back into our game we start rolling on again."

He said they needed to "just play for the whole 80".

"With our attack and the way our defence is working at the moment, if we don't switch off we should be right."