Sunday’s NRL 2018 Round 25 match is between Canterbury Bulldogs and Cronulla Sharks. The opening kick is set to commence at 14:00 local time with the game to be played at ANZ Stadium, Sydney. The away team Cronulla Sharks are the favourites for the match.
View our preview and teams for the game between Canterbury Bulldogs and Cronulla Sharks.
When: 14:00 | Sunday 02/09/2018
Where: ANZ Stadium, Sydney
Preview:
Hats off to the late season resurgence from the Dogs and their younger brigade.
This will be an entertaining game in which I see the Sharks winning, however it wouldn’t surprise me if the Dogs were able to cause an upset.
The Sharks have a knack of zoning in around finals time and after all but sealing a top 4 spot down, will be keen to finish the year off.
KEY BATTLE: Valentine Holmes v Will Hopoate
Valentine Holmes and Will Hopoate battle should be a classic as will the one between good friends and not so long ago recent teammates, Aaron Woods and David Klemmer.
The Verdict
This will be a fiery encounter.
I hope the Dogs can finish with another strong performance but feel the experience of the Sharks will get them home.
The Sharks have a 47-38-1 (54.7 percent) record playing within their home state after a win since 2010.
Unibet Odds:
Canterbury Bulldogs at $2.55
Cronulla Sharks at $1.52
Odds:
Tip: Cronulla Sharks at $1.53
Value Tip: First Try Scorer: Edrick Lee at $13.00
More Info:
Teams:
Canterbury Bulldogs:
1. Will Hopoate 2. Brett Morris 3. Josh Morris 4. Kerrod Holland 5. Reimis Smith 6. Lachlan Lewis 7. Matt Frawley 8. Aiden Tolman 9. Michael Lichaa 10. David Klemmer 11. Josh Jackson 12. Rhyse Martin 13. Adam Elliott
Interchange: 14. Jeremy Marshall-King 15. Danny Fualalo 16. Ofahiki Ogden 17. Greg Eastwood
Reserves: 21. Renouf To’omaga 23. John Olive
Players cut: 18. Francis Tualau 19. Fa’amanu Brown
Cronulla Sharks: 
1. Valentine Holmes 2. Edrick Lee 3. Josh Dugan 4. Kurt Capewell 5. Sosaia Feki 6. Matt Moylan 7. Chad Townsend 8. Andrew Fifita 9. Jayden Brailey 10. Matt Prior 11. Luke Lewis 12. Wade Graham 13. Paul Gallen
Interchange: 14. Scott Sorensen 15. James Segeyaro 16. Aaron Woods 17. Jayson Bukuya
Reserves: 18. Joseph Paulo 21. Kyle Flanagan
Players cut: 19. Ava Seumanufagai 20. Jesse Ramien
NRL News:
Aaron Woods can’t believe his misfortune as another NRL salary cap drama follows him to new club Cronulla.
The Sharks front-rower, forced out of Canterbury this season due to salary cap issues, was caught by surprise after hearing reports Cronulla were under investigation for historical third-party discrepancies dating back to 2015.
The former NSW representative noted salary cap pressures had been a major theme of his last 12 months after first being squeezed out of Wests.
“I’ve been through it about three or four times now,” Woods told Big Sports Breakfast on Wednesday.
“I’ll just tell the boys to roll the shoulders up and get through it.”
Rather than derailing the Sharks’ finals campaign, the 27-year-old believes the probe could foster a backs-to-the-wall mentality and ultimately galvanise the team.
“People from outside in can probably say everything they want about us with the salary cap stuff,” Woods said.
“It’s us against everyone. It could make our bond even closer and the boys are going to really rip in together now and say ‘Everyone’s against us. Let’s prove everyone wrong.’”
Woods is hopeful any possible penalties wouldn’t apply to this season.
“I don’t know the depths of what’s happened but it’s probably a good thing that it’s happened before this year,” he said.
“Hopefully, nothing can happen to us this year and (we can) just worry about continuing to playing footy and looking forward to the semi-finals.”
Woods expects to get more details on the saga first hand from the club at Sharks training on Wednesday morning.
“Once we get in there I assume that they’ll probably sit us down and probably have a chat with us about what’s going on,” he said.