HAYDEN COOPER, PRESENTER: Sunday's NFL grand final is being billed as a "David and Goliath" battle: with a team that hasn't won in 50 years, the Cronulla Sharks, up against the ruthless Melbourne Storm - a team that has had almost constant success over the past 20 years.

Cronulla - the place - is affectionately known by its fans as 'The Shire'. They see it as a unique part of Sydney. All week, fans have been a bundle of nerves and excitement as they get ready to cheer on their team to break the drought.

Conor Duffy reports.

(Music: 'Golden Days' by Whitney)

DAUGHTER 1 OF STEVE AND MICHELLE WATERS: Go Cronulla. (Laugh)

DAUGHTER 2 OF STEVE AND MICHELLE WATERS: Up, up, Cronulla.

DAUGHTER 1 OF STEVE AND MICHELLE WATERS: Up, up, Cronulla.

CRONULLA RESIDENT: So excited: the first time in 49 years.

CONOR DUFFY, REPORTER: Welcome to The Shire.

STEVE WATERS, SHARKS SUPPORTER: Got the nickname 'God's Country' (laughs) since it's the best, I reckon. Everyone sort of who's born and bred here: they stay here. This is the place to be in the city, yeah.

CONOR DUFFY: Seaside Cronulla is a part of Sydney like no other. Its local mall feels more like a country town.

CRONULLA RESIDENT 4: The whole Shire's sort of fired up to get 'em across the line. So it'd be nice. It'd be a great feel.

CONOR DUFFY: How long have you been waiting for?

CRONULLA RESIDENT 4: Oh, we've been following the Sharks since we went to school, you know, back in the... a fair while ago, back in the 80s. So, be nice to see them get up.

NERIDA WOSDETH, SHARKS SUPPORTER: This is the most excited I've seen The Shire in 20 years. It's fantastic.

CONOR DUFFY: Here, fans can still bump into one of the team's best-known players, Michael Ennis. He is out for a morning coffee on the local shopping strip.

MICHAEL ENNIS, CRONULLA SHARKS PLAYER: Oh, mate, it's been unreal, yeah. The support behind us, mate, is unreal, you know.

PASSER-BY 1: Go the Sharks.

MICHAEL ENNIS: And obviously a big area with, you know...

PASSER-BY 2: Good luck, Michael.

MICHAEL ENNIS: ...young kids and stuff, too. So being school holidays, mate, it's been perfect tiling almost.

CONOR DUFFY: And you've won a premiership with Canterbury. How big a deal do you think it will be out here?

MICHAEL ENNIS: Oh, mate, yeah. I'm not looking that far ahead yet, mate. Yeah. There's plenty of work to be done yet.

CONOR DUFFY: Local brewer Graeme Patterson is making sure the pubs will be well stocked to celebrate or drown sorrows.

(To Graeme Patterson) How much beer do you reckon will be drunk if the Sharks get up?

GRAEME PATTERSON, BREWER: Oh, too much. We won't be able to produce enough. (Laughs) Be a great day.

(Slow-motion footage of 2005 Cronulla riots)

REPORTER (archive): On this day in 2005, thousands of people descended on Cronulla Beach.

CONOR DUFFY: The Shire once had a darker side. It's probably best known nationally for 2005 race riots between mostly white locals and Lebanese from rival suburbs.

Ancient history, say the locals.

(Footage ends)

MOUHAMED HIJAZI, BARBER: The riots: That was something stupid. You know, that wasn't meant to happen. But it's just amazing out here.

CONOR DUFFY: Do you think The Shire gets a bad rap sometimes?

MOUHAMED HIJAZI: Yeah, of course. But people who are out here are very nice.

CONOR DUFFY: Local barber Mouhamed Hijazi has started a craze in The Shire. After shaving a shark into the side of his son's head and putting it on Facebook, hundreds of fans have been queuing up, including Paul Jorgensen - who's just arrived after a long drive.

(To Paul Jorgenson) Where have you come from?

PAUL JORGENSON, SHARKS SUPPORTER: Ipswich, just outside of Brisbane.

CONOR DUFFY: How long did that take?

PAUL JORGENSON: Eleven hours, give or take. I got us lost once, but yeah.

CONOR DUFFY: The lifetime fan now has a hair cut to complement his tattoo.

(To Paul Jorgenson) How much will it mean to all the Sharks supporters, who've waited so long, if they do get up?

PAUL JORGENSON: I have a couple of mates around my age too. We've been waiting a long time. And yeah, it will mean an awful lot. We can die happy people now.

(Footage of 1973 NSWRL Rugby League grand final)

COMMENTATOR (1973): That's the Bulldogs, though, and it's all over. Manly have won, 10 points to seven. But let's give credit to this great Cronulla side.

(Footage of 1978 NSWRL Rugby League grand final)

COMMENTATOR 1 (1978): The 1978 rugby league grand final.

COMMENTATOR 2 (1978): The atmosphere is marvellous out here, isn't it.

COMMENTATOR 1 (1978): Electrifying.

CONOR DUFFY: The Sharks have lost three previous grand finals and fans have had their hearts broken before.

COMMENTATOR (archive): He's away! And scores!

CONOR DUFFY: How has it been to be a Sharks' supporter and get so close a few times?

FRIEND OF NERIDA WOSDETH: Tough. (Laughs)

NERIDA WOSDETH: Yep. Absolutely.

FRIEND OF NERIDA WOSDETH: It's been tough. (Laughs)

NERIDA WOSDETH: Yeah, it is. I've just beat breast cancer and everybody used to say, "Well, that's tough." And I would say, "No, I'm a Sharks supporter." So, you've got to... We've been there for the long haul.

ANDREW WEBSTER, SPORTS WRITER, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: It's the famous immortal words from Jack Gibson, who coached them in the 80s: that waiting for Cronulla to win a premiership is like leaving the porch light on for Harold Holt. And that was in the mid-80s. So now it's 2016 and they're finally in the grand final. They might have the chance to do it.

PRESENTER (ABC TV News, archive): There's an air of crisis at the Cronulla Sharks. The club has gone into damage control over doping allegations.

CONOR DUFFY: The Sharks were also key players in the ASADA doping scandal with notorious sports scientist Stephen Dank, with a number of players serving doping bans.

Sports writer and author Andrew Webster says, while that pushed the club to the brink, it has also saved them, forcing a club that's long been financially troubled to professionalise.

ANDREW WEBSTER: I think the main thing is the culture of the joint. They were always the warm and cuddly side that everyone loved. And off the back of ASADA, they got a really hard edge. Nobody likes them now. Nobody wants to give them a pat on the back. But as a consequence they sort of grew up, the Cronulla Sharks, and are now one win away from a premiership.

(Music: 'F***in' in the Bushes' by Oasis)

COMMENTATOR 1 (25 Sep.): ...is Valentine Holmes.

COMMENTATOR 2 (25 Sep.): Oh, Jonathan Thurston, (inaudible) awkwardly.

CONOR DUFFY: That new, ruthless edge was on show last week when the Sharks smashed the reigning premiers, North Queensland.

COMMENTATOR 2 (25 Sep.): Maloney gets one for himself!

CONOR DUFFY: Their opponents, Melbourne, are the favourites, led by this year's joint player of the year, Cooper Cronk and captain Cameron Smith: one of the greatest to ever play rugby league.

COMMENTATOR (archive): Yes, it will. Great kick from Cameron Smith.

ANDREW WEBSTER: They're the benchmark. They're the benchmark because they had to be. They've gone through their own issues, their own scandals. They had a salary cap scandal that ripped the heart out of that club.

(Music: 'Up, Up, Cronulla' (to the tune of 'Roll out the Barrel'))

CONOR DUFFY: The Walters family, though, aren't daunted. They've painted a great shark onto their house, though there's some division in the ranks over the new colour scheme.

STEVE WATERS: About 20 years ago I thought, if they ever made it to the grand final I might actually paint the house in the colours. And it came to the day last week, when they won. And then the kids reminded me. I said, "OK, let's do it."

MICHELLE WATERS, SHARKS SUPPORTER: For the past 20 years I've been secretly wishing that they wouldn't win. (Laughs) But I'm glad they're up there now.

CONOR DUFFY: Michelle and Steve met at the Sharks Leagues Club decades ago and they'll be amongst the happiest Sharks fans if the long drought is finally broken.

STEVE WATERS: Being a supporter, I suppose, over 50 years has been pretty tough. I think getting it this year: I think we're going to appreciate it, 'cause I think the harder things are, the more you appreciate it.

So after 50 years, I think it's going to be great.

HAYDEN COOPER: Conor Duffy reporting.

And whoever you're barracking for, good luck this weekend.