Fresh off a humbling home loss to the Bulldogs, the Sharks face a Raiders team hoping to end a two-game losing streak.
Fresh off a humbling home loss to the Bulldogs, the Sharks face a Raiders team hoping to end a two-game losing streak.
Tom Starling gets the Sharks defence moving sideways. And then, when Hudson Young pointed into the empty in-goal area, that was all he needed. A perfectly placed grubber kick was touched down by Young and the Raiders have their second lead of the night. Raiders lead 12-6 after 24 minutes
Braydon Trindall hit the deck, and Mawene Hiroti had no hope of stopping a rampaging Kaeo Weekes. Impressive stuff, but why did Trindall hit the deck? He was run into by Matt Nicholson. A pretty quick no-try ruling from the bunker. The right call. 6-6 after 16 minutes
Matt Timoko and Xavier Savage will be hoping their families aren’t recording this match. Timoko was just beaten all ends up by Sharks centre Mawene Hiroti. Winger Savage isn’t as much to blame, but his decision to turn his back on Hiroti won’t have thrilled coach Ricky Stuart. 6-6 after 11 minutes
Matt Nicholson is over for a try, but that tackling from Cronulla was poor. Nicholson broke free from four defenders to open the scoring. That’s as bad a start as Cronulla could have supplied. Raiders lead 6-0 after 7 minutes
Kaeo Weekes’ mixed start to 2025 continues. He was unable to field a high kick and the Sharks were gifted another set of six in a great attacking position. Luckily for Weekes, the Sharks spilled the ball before being able to apply any real pressure. 0-0 after 4 minutes
The players are heading onto the field, with the Raiders in home green and the Sharks an interesting mix of black, white and blue. As a part of multi-cultural round, Raiders players are sporting the national flags of their ancestral homelands. A great sight.
The battle between Cronulla rival front row rotations tonight should be something else. The Raiders have Joe Tapine, Josh Papalii, Morgan Smithies and Ata Mariota while Cronulla will send Addin Fonua-Blake, Oregon Kaufusi, Toby Rudolf and Tom Hazelton into the fray.
The main battle among this is Tapine v Fonua-Blake. This pair of proven performers on the Test stage are among the game’s best props. If one of these men can get a clear win over the other, their side will be on the way to victory.
