Everything you need to know: XXXX League Championship final

The best of the best community rugby league players from the Brisbane and Far North Queensland A grade competitions will contest the XXXX League Championship final on Saturday.

Brisbane Red and Cairns will battle it out at Logan Metro Sports Complex from 6pm, with the game being broadcast live and free on Qplus.tv.

Brisbane Red has a couple of aces up the sleeve having James Robinson lining up at lock, having previously been part of the Brisbane team that won the inaugural XXXX League Championship in 2021.

A man who played that same position in the inaugural State of Origin - 'The King' Wally Lewis - made his presence felt at Brisbane Red training at Wynnum Manly Juniors on Wednesday night, which Robinson said was inspiring to the side.

"Oh yeah, it was huge," Robinson said.

"It was quite a special moment to hear from Wally and some of the stories from his playing days."

Lewis was chosen in the Brisbane A grade representative side on several occasions, including for the 1979 AMCO Cup final and subsequent national midweek knockout competition matches throughout the 1980s.

"Not much has changed in the game of footy in regards to how to win a footy game, and he spoke about the trust in your mates and believing in each other's ability. Everyone's there for a reason," Robinson said.

"So we're just taking a lot of inspiration from that, knowing what he achieved in the game, and everyone could only wish to be able to achieve what he achieved."

Robinson, who will have extra motivation with friends and family in the crowd, said his plan for the game was just to do his role and trust his skilled teammates would do the rest.

The trust among the players was something that struck him when he joined the squad for the XXXX League Championship semi-final, which he felt would serve the team well against a formidable opponent in Cairns.

"All the boys seemed to gel really well right off the bat," Robinson said.

"It was like coming into a team that had had a full season playing together, when really they had only had the XXXX Chairman's Challenge.

"The guys seemed to have really clicked and that will definitely help towards bringing it all together and winning this game of footy.

"At the end of the day you've just got to play what works for your team and do that really well."

Cairns coach Jono Zangrande said his side had high expectations in themselves to take the trophy back up north and prove the quality of competition available in the tropics.

"The team's a really well-balanced side, with some really good experience and youth, which was what we were trying to achieve," Zangrande said.

"We've given some young guys in Jason Hallie and Gabriel Tunimakubu a shot again. Jason played really well for us last time and Gabriel comes in fresh off the back of him doing some really good things in the (FNQRL) and obviously with the likes of Noel Underwood and David Crampton and Ben Barba, there's some real experience there and mate, the expectation is obviously to try and go down there and win it."

Everything you need to know

What

XXXX League Championship final

When

Saturday, July 29 at 6pm

Where

Logan Metro Sports Complex, Crestmead

Match length

80 minutes (2x 40-min halves) plus golden point extra time (if required)

Broadcast

Qplus.tv, Kayo Freebies and 9Now

Teams

Brisbane Red

3. Jalen Reweti (Wynnum Manly Juniors), 2. Richard Pandia (West Brisbane), 5. Jack Stafford (Bulimba), 4. Luke Maddaford (Wynnum Manly Juniors), 14. Mitchell Butler (Carina), 6. David Quinlin (Beenleigh), 7. Hayden Herbert (C - Bulimba), 8. Dilbert Issac (Brighton), 9. Justin Smith (Carina), 10. Samson Graham (Brighton), 11. Izaac Skyring (Bulimba), 12. Tom McGrath (Carina), 15. James Robinson (Wynnum Manly Juniors). Interchange: 13. Reed Young (Valleys), 16. Blake Pyle (Wynnum Manly Juniors), 17. Connor Brebner (Wynnum Manly Juniors), 18. Savaan Tahere (Wynnum Manly Juniors). Shadow: 19. Braden Whittaker (Souths Juniors). Coach: Darren Ferricks

Cairns

1. Aaron Jolley (Innisfail), 2. Zachery Mossman (Yarrabah), 3. Falcon Peni (Brothers), 4. Budhagi Gibuma (Mossman-Port Douglas), 5. Bradley Stephen (Kangaroos), 6. Rhylee Herd (Ivanhoes), 7. Ben Barba (Mossman-Port Douglas), 8. Aidan Day (Kangaroos), 9. Zane Knowles (Ivanhoes), 10. Tualata Fakalelu (Innisfail), 11. Noel Underwood (Mossman-Port Douglas), 12. Ernest Suavai (Brothers), 13. Davin Crampton (C - Mossman-Port Douglas). Interchange: 14. Ammiel Harris (Yarrabah), 15. Tomasi Skelton (Innisfail), 16. Gabriel Tunimakubu (Mareeba), 17. Jason Hallie (Innisfail). Coach: Jono Zangrande

Referee: Matt Gannon

Touch judges: Bayden Sawyers, Bailey Sheppard