Grothe versus Morris - what year is it again?

Reddy, Young, Mortimer - now you're having Rex Mossop flashbacks, right?

Sunday's qualifying final between St George Illawarra and Parramatta at WIN Jubilee Oval will revive memories of some classic battles when the sons of 1980s heroes clash.

Eric Grothe junior, Brett Morris, Joel Reddy, Dean Young and Daniel Mortimer, whose fathers' names are synonymous with the era, will all be part of the sold-out, first-versus-eighth clash.

Grothe will mark Morris, the son of former St George halfback and winger "Slippery" Steve, and the occasion will be a special one for "Guru" the younger.

"Slippery was my favourite player when I was young, apart from watching Dad," Grothe said on Friday.

"So it's an honour to play against his sons (Brett's twin brother Josh plays for the Bulldogs).

"I was out one night in Wollongong and I rang him (Steve) from their phone because they were out as well and I left ... about a 20-minute message.

"He thought it was gee-up and he ended up texting me a couple of days later saying thanks for the message, it would be good to catch up some time.

"The off-season's not too far way, hopefully a month away, so I might see him then."

Nostalgia aside, Grothe will have one of the toughest assignments in the game on Sunday against the NRL's leading try-scorer.

"(It's) massive," he said.

"He's a very fast player, a very good player and reads the game well, I'll have to be on my toes."

And what if Morris shows him the sideline, like he did to the Eels' defence last Friday night to score one of his three tries?

"Yeah, just drag as many of my players out there so I pretty much don't have to make the tackle and just don't give him room to move," Grothe said.

"He's too fast for me I think."

The 1990s will also be well represented with the Dragons' Wendell Sailor, who debuted in 1993, on the opposite wing.

"I'm absolutely filthy I don't have to listen to that gibberer in my ear all day," Grothe joked.

"Burty (Luke Burt) can handle him, get under him I think. I don't want to get into a big upper body strength wrestle with that big unit, no way."

Grothe, inspirational forward Nathan Hindmarsh (toe) and in-doubt centre Krisnan Inu (hamstring) will all return for the Eels on Sunday for the do-or-die clash.

The big winger spent last Friday night running between his couch and the bathroom after being struck by a virus.

"It was a bit of a three-day nightmare. I lost five kilos off the old stomach, which is good for the off-season and the beach I guess," he said.

"I'm feeling good to get all that out of my system and I'm ready to go now."

So too are the Eels, he says, after last week's 37-0 drubbing.

"We're turning up, we're going to rip in, we want to win, we want to win the grand final so we're not leaving anything in the sheds, that's for sure this time," Grothe said.

"It's do or die for us, there's no mucking around, it's either win or we're goneskis."

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