The first of the elimination finals sees Cronulla, who finished 5th, up against the resurgent Cowboys who rapidly climbed the ladder in the latter part of the regular season to finish grab 8th.

Both teams are coming off big wins last week.

For the home-side it was a 38 – 18 win over Canberra, without several big name players lining up. Some poor play in the final quarter of the match from the Raiders enabled Cronulla to cross for three tried and blow the score-line out.

The Cowboys continued their remarkable run of good form and easily accounted for West Tigers, 50 – 22. It was the Cowboys sixth straight win.

Cronulla welcome back Paul Gallen and Todd Carney this week and just in time as they’ll require all hands on deck to counter a rampaging Cowboys.

The Sharks were afforded opportunities last week against the Raiders which may not be so forth-coming against a better quality opponent.

No other team comes into the finals with a greater head of steam than the Cowboys and that’s not to be underestimated.

They accounted for the Sharks back in round 25, 29 – 18 making it three straight wins over their opponents and taking their record 5 – 2 since 2010.

Cronulla need to improve on last week’s effort here and their performances have been a little inconsistent over the past month. At the current market (Cronulla $1.72, Cowboys $2.18) more than happy to jump on the Cowboys’ bandwagon.

TIP: COWBOYS 1 – 12

Odds comparison by NRL Odds:

Cronulla Sharks	1.70	1.72	1.70	1.72	1.70	1.72
Nth Queensland Cowboys	2.20	2.15	2.15	2.15	2.20	2.10

Teams:

Cronulla Sharks:
Michael Gordon, Sosaia Feki, Ben Pomeroy, Jonathan Wright, Beau Ryan, Todd Carney, Jeff Robson, Andrew Fifita, John Morris, Sam Tagataese, Luke Lewis, Wade Graham, Paul Gallen (c). Interchange (from): Isaac De Gois, Chris Heighington, Jayson Bukuya, Anthony Tupou, Bryce Gibbs, Ben Ross

Nth Queensland Cowboys:
Matthew Bowen, Wayne Ulugia, Brent Tate, Kane Linnett, Antonio Winterstein, Johnathan Thurston (c), Robert Lui, Matthew Scott (c), Rory Kostjasyn, James Tamou, Gavin Cooper, Glenn Hall, Joel Riethmuller. Interchange (from): Jayden Hodges, Tariq Sims, Scott Bolton, Jason Taumalolo, Ashton Sims