During the memorable spring of 2000, when Sydney glowed beneath the Olympic and Paralympic cauldrons, his father John Dowall stood with arms raised triumphant on the podium at the Olympic Stadium.

Despite falling an agonising six centimetres short of breaking the world record, the amputee's achievement to beat the highly fancied Chinese athlete Si Lao Ha and add a gold medal in javelin to the silver he had won a few days earlier as a shot putter was celebrated throughout New Zealand.

''There were a lot of Kiwis in the crowd - I could see the flags and they were fairly vocal,'' the Paralympic champion told the press 13 years ago. ''But, you know, it would have taken someone a lot better than me to beat me today.''

His father's self-belief, and determination to get on with life despite the setback of losing his foot in a lawnmower accident when he was five, had a profound impact on Kenny-Dowall. He readily nominated his father as the ''inspiration'' that would drive him in the premiership decider, expected to be a smash-up derby between flesh and bone.

''My dad … he's been with me the whole time,'' Kenny-Dowall said. ''I really look up to him. He's achieved a lot in his life and he's helped me get to where I am. He's got a disability; he's got one leg and he went to the Paralympics. So, as a kid growing up I watched how he went about preparing. He won a gold medal at the Paralympics in the javelin and a silver in the shot put. [The grand final] will be played at the same pitch where he won and it's pretty inspiring.''

Kenny-Dowall's father was by his side in 2006 when, after being told by the Warriors he was not on their radar, they bunked down in a backpackers' hostel at Bondi while he trialled for the Roosters.

''It comes down to preparation,'' he said of performing as his father did on the big stage.

''Hours and hours off the field of preparation and taking confidence out of knowing you've prepared well. That goes a long way to performing on the day. It's going to be a tough battle against Manly because they play a similar style to us, we're going to have to be 'on' in our defence. I'm happy with where I am right now. I'm confident I've been playing good football over the last couple of weeks and all I can concentrate on is preparing for this game. You can't leave anything in the tank, it's the last game of the year and it's the most important game. We've left no stone unturned and I'm definitely looking forward to the challenge.''