Memories of his own grand final nightmare have left Manly premiership-winning prop Mark Carroll convinced the Sea Eagles can exact revenge against Melbourne at ANZ Stadium on Sunday.

Carroll believes the experience of playing in last year's NRL decider will hold the Sea Eagles squad in good stead ahead of their re-match with the Storm, as he re-lived one of the darkest weeks of his career.

The former Test forward was part of the Manly side which suffered only two losses in romping its way to the 1995 grand final, where it would come up against a Bulldogs side which had struggled into the big one after finishing the regular season in sixth spot.

The Sea Eagles were raging hot favourites that fateful day, but went down to the Bulldogs in one of the biggest grand final boilovers of all time.

Carroll admitted the excitement of the week leading up to his first grand final had left him and several of his teammates drained by gameday, much in the same way the current group Sea Eagles stars seemed to struggle with their first trip to the decider with last year's 34-8 hammering by the Storm And just like his Sea Eagles returned to take out the premiership in 1996 with a 20-8 win over St George, Carroll believes this year's model will make amends on Sunday afternoon.

"Hopefully they can control their emotions this time. They're going to be better for the run last year, and for Dessie (coach Des Hasler) as well," Carroll said.

"In 1995, by the time we got to the grand final I'd already played my game on the Thursday night in my sleep - every hit-up, every tackle.

"I still remember waking up in a lather of sweat, when I got to the game I was absolutely rooted. I was a spent force on the Sunday.

"You know what the most tiring thing is, being nice to people every day. Someone sticks a camera in your face all you want is to tell them to get nicked, but you can't do that."

Bench prop Mark Bryant admitted there was a different feeling among the group this time around.

"I suppose the main thing is a bit more maturity, a year older and a year down the track," Bryant said.

"Probably a bit wiser this year as to what to expect and get out there without being overawed and stuff like that.

"It's hard to put your finger on one thing."

The Sea Eagles have seemed much more relaxed in their build-up this year, with no greater evidence of that being the practical joke played on Hasler earlier this week when a group of players locked a duck from a nearby pond in his office.

Even at the grand final breakfast prop Brent Kite lent over from his seat to "congratulate" referee Tony Archer on his appointment to the grand final, the gesture drawing bursts of laughter from teammates and onlookers alike.

Asked how his players had changed from last year, Hasler said: "I don't know how you remember 12 months ago.

"I think just that experience, you know the players are 12 months more mature and they have another 12 months of football and another 12 months of being together," the coach said.

"Also there's just a lot of self-belief in the team. The players realise they've got another opportunity come Sunday."

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