The 2011 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the NRL's 2011 Telstra Premiership season. It was played between the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and the New Zealand Warriors on the afternoon of Sunday, 2 October, and it was the first time the two sides have met in a grand final. Manly won the match, 24–10, for the club's eighth premiership.

The grand final breakfast, an annual function attended by both teams and hundreds of guests, was held the Thursday prior to Sunday's match at Sydney's Darling Harbour and was screened live on Australian television.

The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles finished second on the competition ladder behind the Melbourne Storm accumulating 40 competition points, winning 18 of 24 matches and being undefeated at their traditional home ground Brookvale Oval. However, their run into the finals series threatened to be disrupted by suspensions arising from a wild brawl in a clash with Melbourne in the penultimate round of the season. Four Manly players received suspensions, including a three-match ban for key forward Glenn Stewart. Despite the suspensions, Manly qualified for the Grand Final with ease, defeating Queensland teams the North Queensland Cowboys 42–8 in the qualifying final and the Brisbane Broncos 26–14 in the preliminary after earning a weeks break.Steve Matai and Tony Williams were reported to the NRL's match review committee for incidents during the win over the Broncos, raising the prospect that they may be suspended for the Grand Final. However, the committee refused to charge Matai, while Williams' clean record enabled him to avoid a suspension by pleading guilty to a charge of effecting an unlawful high tackle. However, Manly would play the Grand Final without their co-captain Jason King, who suffered a pectoral injury in Round 22 of the season, and winger David Williams with a neck injury.

The National Rugby League (NRL) is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership (due to sponsorship from Telstra Corporation), is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand. It is regarded as the world's elite rugby league championship and, per season, is the single most viewed and attended rugby football competition in the world.

The National Rugby League is the present-day embodiment of Australia's top-level domestic club competition, which in turn grew from Sydney's club competition, and which has been running continuously since 1908. The NRL formed in the aftermath of the 1990s' Super League war as a joint partnership between the sport's already-existing national governing body, the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and media giant News Corporation-controlled Super League, after both organisations ran premierships parallel to each other in 1997. The NRL Partnership was dissolved in February 2012, being replaced by the Australian Rugby League Commission, chaired by John Grant.

Grand Final is a predominantly Australian sport term used to describe a match that decides a league champion, sysnonymous with North America's championship game. It originated in Victoria and South Australia and has become specifically significant Australian culture. Notable competitions which play a Grand Final include the Australian Football League (AFL Grand Final), the National Rugby League (NRL Grand Final), Europe's Super League, the A-League, the Women's National Basketball League, the ANZ Netball Championship.

The use of the Anglo-Norman term "grand" to describe a sporting event in Australia dates back to the 1850s. Its use may have been borrowed from the term "Grand Finale" which was used in Europe for centuries to describe the last and most exciting part of a play, opera, or other entertainment.

Use of the term in Australian Football dates back to the first organised and widely publicised match between Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College on August 7, 1858 at Yarra Park, Melbourne (formerly Richmond Park). The game was advertised as the "grand football match" in the Melbourne Morning Herald and several other local newspapers.

Krisnan Nevada Inu (born 17 March 1987) is a New Zealand professional rugby league player who currently plays for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the Australasian National Rugby League competition. Inu was a member of the World Cup winning New Zealand team beating Australia in the 2008 World Cup Final at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane.

A Parramatta Eels junior, Inu made his first grade debut in 2007 against the Canberra Raiders. After just one first grade match he was named to play for the Kiwis in the ANZAC Day Test.

After the test, Inu was dropped back to Premier League but returned to first grade through a series of injuries to regular players. Inu took on the kicking duties as Parramatta's primary kicker and full-back, Luke Burt, was injured mid-season.

In 2007, along with Hayne, Inu was the Eels top try-scorer. Inu's successful season was recognised when he was nominated for Rookie of the Year at the 2007 Dally M awards but was narrowly beaten by Melbourne Storm centre Israel Folau.

After a 2-4 start to the 2009 season, the Eels decided to re-tool their line-up, dropping Inu to the New South Wales Cup, with Taulima Tautai replacing him for the Round 7 match against the Brisbane Broncos. However, Inu returned to first grade from Round 10 onwards.

Stephen "Steve" Matai (born 5 August 1984 in Auckland, New Zealand) is a professional rugby league footballer for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles of the National Rugby League. He plays as a centre. He is a New Zealand international of Samoan Heritage. He is the first cousin of Junior Sa'u

Matai's junior clubs were the Bay Roskill Vikings and the Ponsonby Ponies in the Auckland Rugby League before he was selected to play for the Marist Richmond Brothers in the Bartercard Cup, before leaving in 2004.

Matai joined Queensland Cup side Ipswich Jets in 2004.

In 2005 Matai moved to another Queensland Cup side, but soon left the Wynnum Manly Seagulls after securing an NRL contract with their associate club, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.

Matai joined the Manly Sea Eagles from the Wynnum Manly Seagulls in 2005 after impressing during a strong pre season of training and trials at the Brookvale Oval.

On 27 March 2005 Matai made his NRL debut in the round 3 match against the Melbourne Storm at Brookvale Oval.