PAUL Green is a relative NRL coaching rookie. Certainly when compared to the man he is pitted against on Sunday.

Wayne Bennett has coached 681 more games than Green, over 27 more seasons, has played in eight more grand finals and won seven of those.

But their percentages are eerily similar.

Tune into a grand final coaches edition of NRL 360, 6.30pm tonight on Fox Sports 1 as Wayne Bennett and Paul Green join Ben Ikin and Paul Kent ahead of the big dance!

Since breaking into the head coaching world last year with North Queensland, Green has won 63.5 per cent of his games.

That is compared to Bennett’s 62.1 per cent, although Bennett’s longevity makes his winning percentage somewhat incomparable.

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Less than 24 months into the job, Green is staring down the barrel of NRL premiership glory.

His rapid rise to the top has surprised some pundits, but not those who know him well.

Brian Canavan — current Roosters chief — saw Green play junior representative football in Queensland more than two decades ago.

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In 2013 he appointed him the Roosters’ NYC coach, and assistant to Trent Robinson.

“I’ve known Greeny for years so it’s easy to talk about him,” Canavan told foxsports.com.au.

“A very intelligent person all round, obviously specialising in rugby league.

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“He is a very competitive person and very very thorough, as all head coaches have to be.

“He had a great desire, a great aspiration to be a head coach.

“That energises people when they’ve got aspirations and he displayed that all the way through.

“He had done the hard yards, been at a couple of different clubs, positions at different levels.

“So he was ready to take that step, and here he is in an NRL grand final as head coach.”

Green couldn’t have asked for a better coaching apprenticeship.

After playing 162 professional games across five clubs, the little halfback retired in 2004 and walked into a specialist role with Brisbane.

He worked with the club’s halves and acted as an assistant coach of the Broncos until 2010, when he went back to the Queensland Cup to coach Wynnum Manly.

He then moved south to spend one year with the Roosters under premiership-winning coach Trent Robinson, before the Cowboys came knocking.

Ben Ikin was on the North Queensland board that appointed Green to the club’s top job.

He was up against the likes of Trent Barrett, Brad Arthur and Broncos assistant Kevin Walters.

Ikin says Green was a “surprise” standout for the position.

“The reason I say that is because all the candidates were very, very good,” Ikin said.

“Paul Green won the position when he applied, the others didn’t lose it.”

Ikin believes Green has adopted bits and pieces of his coaching style from both Bennett and Robinson over the years.

But he wouldn’t compare him to either men.

“That’s the other thing I like about Greeny, he’s been pretty consistent with his style and who he wanted to be as a coach from day dot,” Ikin said.

“Not to say he hasn’t changed things ... he will change things and make sure he is involving.

“But if he has embraced some ideas or philosophies from Wayne or Robinson they have kind of been infused into his own delivery style.

“He’s not a mish mash or copy of other coaches.

“So he’s got a really strong sense of self that way.”

Green’s “unique” coaching style will be put to the ultimate test on Sunday night at ANZ Stadium, when his Cowboys take on Bennett’s Broncos in the season decider.