The Canberra Raiders have named the same 17-man squad as last week, as they face the Melbourne Storm for a spot in the Grand Final at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night, 16 October.
Ricky Stuart has picked the same players who got the job done against the Roosters in their epic semi-final clash; however, Sia Soliola and Tom Starling have been named to start with Hudson Young and Siliva Havili shifting to the bench.
Stuart named Soliola and Starling to start last week, before two late changes saw them drop to the bench for Young and Havili, so it wouldn’t surprise to see more late changes this week.
While the Raiders were involved in a bruising encounter against the Roosters, the Storm should be refreshed after enjoying a week off since beating the Parramatta Eels in a qualifying final.
The Storm have made just one change to their side that beat the Eels, with Tom Eisenhuth coming onto the bench for Chris Lewis who drops to the reserves.
There was concern over the fitness of star playmaker Cameron Munster after he copped another knock to his knee against the Eels, but the Storm have always been confident he’ll play and with the extra week’s break, Munster will take his place at five-eighth.
The other play of note for the Storm is Dale Finucane who is racing the clock to be fit with a calf injury and has been named as 18th man.
The two sides famously met in the finals last year, with the Raiders scoring a try in the dying minutes to secure a 12-10 victory in a qualifying final in Melbourne.
The teams split their matches this season, with the Raiders winning the first encounter 22-6 all the way back in round 3 at AAMI Park, while the Storm won their last matchup 20-14 at GIO Stadium in round 9.
Both sides feature a host of stars all over the park and with a spot in the premiership decider up for grabs, expect plenty of fireworks in this one.
Full teams:
Raiders | Storm | ||
1 | Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad | 1 | Ryan Papenhuyzen |
2 | Semi Valemei | 2 | Suliasi Vunivalu |
3 | Jarrod Croker | 3 | Brenko Lee |
4 | Jordan Rapana | 4 | Justin Olam |
5 | Nick Cotric | 5 | Josh Addo-Carr |
6 | Jack Wighton | 6 | Cameron Munster |
7 | George Williams | 7 | Jahrome Hughes |
8 | Josh Papalii | 8 | Jesse Bromwich |
9 | Tom Starling | 9 | Cameron Smith |
10 | Sia Soliola | 10 | Christian Welch |
11 | John Bateman | 11 | Felise Kaufusi |
12 | Elliott Whitehead | 12 | Kenneath Bromwich |
13 | Joe Tapine | 13 | Nelson Asofa-Solomona |
Bench | Bench | ||
14 | Siliva Havili | 14 | Brandon Smith |
15 | Dunamis Lui | 15 | Tino Faasuamaleaui |
16 | Hudson Young | 16 | Tom Eisenhuth |
17 | Corey Harawira-Naera | 17 | Nicho Hynes |
Reserves | Reserves | ||
18 | Sam Williams | 18 | Dale Finucane |
19 | Matthew Timoko | 19 | Paul Momirovski |
20 | Ryan Sutton | 20 | Ryley Jacks |
21 | Michael Oldfield | 21 | Chris Lewis |
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