Check out the match preview and prediction for the round 25 clash between the St George Illawarra Dragons and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.
MATCHDAY NEWS
MATCHDAY SCHEDULE
St George Illawarra Dragons Vs Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
Venue: WIN Stadium, Wollongong
Date: Sunday August 25, 4:05pm
MATCHDAY TEAM NEWS
Dragons: 1. Tyrell Sloan, 2. Zac Lomax, 3. Mathew Feagai, 4. Max Feagai, 5. Christian Tuipulotu, 6. Jack Bird, 7. Ben Hunt, 8. Francis Molo, 9. Jacob Liddle, 10. Jack de Belin, 11. Luciano Leilua, 12. Jaydn Su’A, 13. Tom Eisenhuth, 14. Toby Couchman, 15. Ryan Couchman, 16. Blake Lawrie, 17. Raymond Faitala-Mariner, 18. Lyhkan King-Togia, 19. Mikaele Ravalawa, 20. Michael Molo, 21. Jesse Marschke, 22. Connor Muhleisen
Sharks: 1. William Kennedy, 2. Samuel Stonestreet, 3. Jesse Ramien, 4. Kayal Iro, 5. Ronaldo Mulitalo, 6. Daniel Atkinson, 7. Braydon Trindall, 8. Toby Rudolf, 9. Blayke Brailey, 10. Oregon Kaufusi, 11. Briton Nikora, 12. Teig Wilton, 13. Cameron McInnes, 14. Jack Williams, 15. Royce Hunt, 16. Braden Hamlin-Uele, 17. Thomas Hazelton, 18. Mawene Hiroti, 19. Billy Burns, 20. Tuku Hau Tapuha, 21. Chris Veaila, 22. Niwhai Puru
Referee: Ashley Klein
Embed from Getty ImagesMATCHDAY PREVIEW
The Cronulla Sharks travel to Wollongong having re-discovered their good early season form and have landed four of their last five games in the lead up. The hosts, on the other hand, have been patchy and have not been able to string back to back wins together since the start of June.
They do, however, have a big carrot in front of them in the form of making their top eight berth more secure and stretching their gap with the Dolphins to four points. They will need to buck historical trends to come out on top though – the Sharks hold the metal over the Dragons in the fixture in recent history, having won eight of the last 10 meetings between the two sides.
St George have some continuity from their win over the Gold Coast Titans last time out, with Raymond Faitala-Mariner dropping out of the 18 and Michael Molo coming onto the bench in place of Lyhkan King-Togia. The Sharks, by contrast, have a host of changes: Samuel Stonestreet in for Sione Katoa, Mawene Hiroti replacing Ronaldo Mulitalo, and Kayal Iro moving into the centres with Siosifa Talakai out.
The spine also saw movement with Braydon Trindall coming in for Blayke Brailey, who shifts to his more traditional position of hooker. As a result, Cameron McInnes moves back to lock and Teig Wilton comes into the side in the back row, pushing Royce Hunt onto the bench.
Despite the movement back to a more familiar Cronulla Sharks line up, the missing prolific wingers and wholesale shift through the spine will no doubt have made preparation for this away trip to WIN Stadium harder. Therefore, while the Dragons do need an improved performance from last week to get one over on their historically dominant adversaries, the gap they need to close is likely smaller than that against a side with more continuity.
It will no doubt be an enthralling battle between the two big packs who both play an uncompromising style of rugby league, but Cronulla’s error-averse style should suit them to see them have the edge over the Dragons.
Head-to-head stats can be found at Number Crunch Stats.
MATCHDAY PREDICTION
Check out all the NRL Predictions here.
Sharks by 4 points.
Follow Nothing But Rugby League on Facebook
