The Raiders will be looking to bounce back after their first loss of the season as they head to Shark Park to take on Cronulla.
Match details
- Who: Cronulla Sharks vs Canberra Raiders
- When: Sunday 31 March, 6.15pm AEDT
- Where: Pointsbet Stadium, Sydney
- Weather: min 17, max 26
- Click here for tickets.
- Head-to-head record: Played 81. Raiders 41 wins. Sharks 40 wins.
Team lists
| RAIDERS | SHARKS | |
| Jordan Rapana | 1 | William Kennedy |
| James Schiller | 2 | Sione Katoa |
| Matt Timoko | 3 | Jesse Ramien |
| Sebastian Kris | 4 | Kayal Iro |
| Xavier Savage | 5 | Ronaldo Mulitalo |
| Ethan Strange | 6 | Brayden Trindall |
| Jamal Fogarty | 7 | Nicho Hynes |
| Josh Papali’i | 8 | Thomas Hazelton |
| Danny Levi | 9 | Blayke Brailey |
| Joseph Tapine | 10 | Oregon Kaufusi |
| Hudson Young | 11 | Siosifa Talakai |
| Zac Hosking | 16 | 12 | Teig Wilton |
| Morgan Smithies | 13 | Cam McInnes |
| BENCH | ||
| Tom Starling | 14 | Daniel Atkinson |
| Ata Mariota | 15 | Jack Williams |
| Pasami Saulo | 17 | 16 | Billy Burns |
| Corey Horsburgh | 19 | 17 | Tuku Hau Tapuha |
| RESERVES | ||
| Nick Cotric | 22 | 18 | Jayden Berrell |
| Kaeo Weekes | 20 | 19 | Blake Hosking |
UPDATE: Elliott Whitehead has been ruled out with a calf complaint. Hosking will now start in the back row and Horsburgh comes onto the bench.
The Raiders have made a few changes with Kris coming straight back into the centres after recovering from a head knock, while Schiller gets his first NRL start this season on the wing. Cotric has been dropped to the reserves while Albert Hopoate is out after burning himself in a cooking accident. Mariota returns on the bench in place of Emre Guler who will play NSW Cup.
The Sharks lost three middle forwards last week with Dale Finucane, Royce Hunt and Toby Rudolf all out. Hazelton and Kaufusi will start in the front row, with Tuku Hau Tapuha called onto the bench. Talakai shifts into the back row with Iro to start at centre. Additionally, Atkinson has been named in the 14 jersey as a utility player.
Referee: Todd Smith
Season so far
Raiders: 3rd (2-1)| 70 points for, 42 points against | LWW
The Raiders dropped their first match of the year last week in New Zealand, but wouldn’t have lost any admirers with their effort.
After a slow start, Canberra started to get on top and managed to hit the front during the second half through Cotric. They were then controversially denied a try to Tapine that would’ve extended the lead to 16-6 and made it hard for the Warriors. The game swung off that moment and unfortunately the Raiders conceded two quick tries and couldn’t recover.
Whitehead looked underdone in his first match for the season and would hope to get up to speed quickly with such great depth in the Canberra forward pack.
Despite the loss, the Raiders’ strong showing suggests they’ll be competitive against Cronulla if they maintain that level.
Sharks: 10th (2-1) | 38 points for, 46 points against | LWW
After two strong wins to start the year, the Sharks were stunned by the Tigers last week, losing 32-6 in Leichardt.
They were outplayed for almost the entire match and had 16 errors, making it almost impossible to mount any pressure on the Tigers. Hynes, in particular, had a challenging evening, being responsible for four of those errors.
After conceding just three tries across the first two rounds, Craig Fitzgibbon would be disappointed with their defence as they let in five tries, with Api Koroisau carving them up through the middle.
The Sharks are missing a few key players but will still be confident of bouncing back on their home deck.
Last 5 meetings and history at Shark Park
- 2023 round 27: Sharks 24 – 6 Raiders at Pointsbet Stadium
- 2023 round 3: Raiders 24 – 20 Sharks at GIO Stadium, Canberra
- 2022 round 10: Sharks 10 – 30 Raiders at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
- 2022 round 1: Raiders 24 – 19 Sharks at GIO Stadium
- 2021 round 18: Raiders 34 – 18 Sharks at Cbus Super Stadium, Gold Coast
The Raiders had won nine in a row against Cronulla until their clash in round 27 last year.
They met twice in 2023, with Canberra winning a close one at home early in the year, before the Sharks claimed a comfortable victory later in the year after Kris was sent off.
The Raiders shouldn’t hold any fears heading to Shark Park having won five of their last seven encounters at the venue.
Players to watch
Raiders – Jordan Rapana: The beloved Canberra veteran plays his 200th match for the Raiders in this one. At 34 years old, Rapana has been placed into the fullback role late in his career. True to the character he has shown throughout his career, he is giving absolutely everything he has to the role. He has scored two tries already this season and ran for over 200 metres against the Warriors last week. Go well Rapa.
Sharks – Nicho Hynes: Despite somehow sitting atop the Dally M leaderboard, Hynes was well below his best last week against the Tigers. He came up with four errors himself and could never get his team going. He will be behind an undermanned pack in this contest as well, so he may have to create off the back-foot at times.
Pre match predictions
Sunday night Schiller: James Schiller to score two tries in his first game of the season as Canberra wins a close one. Raiders by 2.
Parked Sharks: Raiders to dominate the territory and park the sharks in their defensive end through a dominant middle third performance. Raiders by 12. – Denholm Samaras
Have any predictions of your own? Let us know in the comments below.
Other match details
The match will be broadcast live on Fox League channel 502 and is also available to stream on Kayo. Overseas fans can watch via Watch NRL.
You can listen to the match on Raiders on Mix (Mix106.3 FM), Radio 2CC (1206 AM) and ABC Grandstand (666).
