A season of solid form has Manly coach Des Hasler convinced his five-eighth is ready to fire in this weekend's NRL grand final.

But Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy will reserve judgement on his superstar No.6 Greg Inglis until 4pm Sunday.

"You don't really get a real feeling for him until about an hour before the game," Bellamy said of Inglis.

"So if you're around an hour before the game I'll let you know."

That Inglis is deemed to be struggling to find his best is an ominous portent for the Sea Eagles, with those same critics saying Inglis needed to lift heading into last year's decider.

Inglis not only lifted - he produced a career-defining performance which netted him two tries and the Clive Churchill medal.

Inglis was also panned for a sub-par effort in this year's opening Origin encounter in which he was shown up by NSW opposite Mark Gasnier.

His response was a devastating man-of-the-match effort in the return leg in Brisbane.

Earlier this week Bellamy said he needed more from his multi-talented five-eighth, and he was confident the signs were there for an improved game.

"He's trained really well this week which is a nice feeling," Bellamy said.

"When he trains well he usually plays well."

For all the criticism Inglis has had to endure, it's nothing compared to analysis Jamie Lyon has had to deal with since his switch to the Sea Eagles and the No.6 jumper at the start of last year.

Lyon freely admitted he struggled to find his feet in 2007, but with added playmaking responsibility this year in the absence of departed hooker Michael Monaghan, the former Test centre has thrived.

"I've watched a lot of football with Jamie over the years and I think he's the sort of player that no matter where he plays particularly in the backline I think he'd handle it," Hasler said.

"He's got those natural instincts as a ball player and as a ball runner.

"He handles the role really well, doesn't say much, just gets on with it."

Manly skipper Matt Orford claimed the true reflection of Lyon's worth to the team was evident in the side's results without him, with the extra kicking option he provides pivotal to much of the Sea Eagles' success this year.

When Lyon missed six games with a knee injury late in the season, the suffered three losses.

With Lyon in the side they have lost four and won 16.

"It sort of showed when Jamie was out that I was probably the sole kicker in the game as well as Matty (Ballin) and it was very easy for teams to actually read," Orford said.

"If we can mix it up a little bit and sort of make it very unpredictable it's going to be very hard to put a lot of pressure on one kicker so we've worked on that all year and we need to do that once more."

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