Check out the match preview and prediction for the 2025 National Rugby League round 5 clash between the Canberra Raiders and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.
MATCHDAY NEWS
MATCHDAY SCHEDULE
Canberra Raiders Vs Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
Venue: GIO Stadium, Canberra.
Date: Thursday April 3, 8:00pm (ADST)
MATCHDAY TEAM NEWS
Raiders: 1. Kaeo Weekes 2. Savelio Tamale 3. Matthew Timoko 4. Sebastian Kris 5. Xavier Savage 6. Ethan Strange 7. Jamal Fogarty 8. Josh Papali’i 9. Tom Starling 10. Joseph Tapine 11. Hudson Young 12. Matt Nicholson 13. Corey Horsburgh 14. Owen Pattie 15. Simi Sasagi 16. Morgan Smithies 17. Ata Mariota 18. Danny Levi 19. Jed Stuart 20. Pasami Saulo 21. Trey Mooney 22. Adam Cook
Sharks: 1. William Kennedy 2. Samuel Stonestreet 3. Jesse Ramien 4. Mawene Hiroti 5. Ronaldo Mulitalo 6. Braydon Trindall 7. Nicho Hynes 8. Addin Fonua-Blake 9. Blayke Brailey 10. Oregon Kaufusi 11. Briton Nikora 12. Teig Wilton 13. Cameron McInnes 14. Daniel Atkinson 15. Thomas Hazelton 16. Toby Rudolf 17. Tuku Hau Tapuha 18. Jayden Berrell 19. Chris Veaila 20. Hohepa Puru 21. Jesse Colquhoun 22. Billy Burns
Referee: Todd Smith
Bunker: Ashley Klein
MATCHDAY PREVIEW
Round 5 of the NRL will kick off in Canberra with the Raiders hosting the Cronulla Sharks. Canberra started off the season with two straight wins, most impressively against the Broncos last time they played at home. Unfortunately the back-to-back away fixtures against Manly and the Cowboys brought them crashing back to earth and had people questioning their capabilities going forward once again. The Sharks have also had mixed fortunes, beating South Sydney and North Queensland, but successes there were marred by losses against more fancied opponents in Penrith and Canterbury, raising questions of if the Sharks are pretenders or contenders.
Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart hasn’t overreacted to last week’s disappointing loss – naming a similar squad with the only changes being Morgan Smithies (concussion) returning to the bench, meaning Trey Mooney is pushed back to reserve grade. For Craig Fitzgibbon’s Cronulla Sharks, he had to make some changes after Kayal Iro (hamstring) will miss some time, which is a huge loss for the Sharks after he has started the season hot, scoring five tries in his first four matches. Mawene Hiroti moves into the vacant centre spot, while Tom Hazelton (back) replaces Siosifa Talaki’s (concussion) place on the bench as he misses this week’s game.
Since the competition officially became the NRL back in 1998, the head-to-head record between these two is pretty even, with Cronulla edging Canberra 26-25 in the 51 meetings. The Sharks have had more success in recent times, most notably the last time they met in Canberra – embarrassing the home side 40-0. Canberra won’t want to get swept by Cronulla again in 2025 and will need to emulate the approach they took on the Broncos in round 2.
Kaeo Weekes has come under some criticism after a slow start to the season. He showed glimpses of his brilliance late last season all the way up to the Pre-Season Challenge games where he scored a magnificent almost-full field solo try. Nicho Hynes is a fantastic kicker of the football and the Sharks’ game plan will certainly look to exploit the issues Weekes has had under the high ball to start the season. I wrote in my Manly game preview that Weekes had a good opportunity there to kickstart his season, unfortunately he still hasn’t found his best football but the season is young and this game is another big chance for him to shine.
Hynes’ ability to step up in bigger games was again brought into question after he failed to have an impact in the 20-6 home loss to the undefeated Bulldogs. Whilst it looks like there won’t be much shame in losing to a team as good as the Bulldogs in 2025, it still brings into question whether the Sharks and Hynes have what it takes to deliver premiership success. Hynes will be my key Sharks player this week as bounceback games can be extremely dangerous, and as mentioned above, Hynes has a good chance to continue to put Weekes under pressure with his kicking game. His opposite half Jamal Fogarty has equally impressed with his kicking game this season, so I feel the winner of this game will be decided on which half outshines the other. Canberra have also put pressure on themselves with a lack of discipline which will have to be addressed by Stuart in this week’s preparation.
MATCHDAY PREDICTION
Sharks by 6 points.
Check out all the NRL Predictions here.
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