The Sharks will welcome back their coach Craig Fitzgibbon for their return to PointsBet Stadium after two years playing out of Netstrata Jubilee Stadium and then Queensland when the competition was relocated.
These two clubs have produced some epic contests over the years and the Sharks' home ground is sure to be rocking as they look to post their first win of 2022 and deny Parramatta back-to-back victories.
New recruits Dale Finucane and Nicho Hynes had some nice moments in the narrow loss to the Green Machine and they'll have big roles to play if Cronulla are to subdue one of the premiership heavyweights.
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The Rundown
Team news
Sharks: Connor Tracey (quad) will start in the centres, while star recruit Cameron McInnes (knee) is on the bench after the pair were cleared to make their first appearances of the season. Ronaldo Mulitalo shifts from centre to wing, with Matt Ikuvalu making way. Royce Hunt drops out of the squad for McInnes.
Eels: Jake Arthur has been recalled to the interchange in place of Bryce Cartwright in a late change to Brad Arthur's side. The injury to hat-trick hero Sean Russell has forced a reshuffle with Waqa Blake shifting out to the wing and Tom Opacic coming into the side at centre. Oregon Kaufusi is the new No.13 and Ryan Matterson is out with a hamstring injury.
Nathan Brown is back in the squad after playing NSW Cup last week. Cartwright is 18th man.
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Key match-up
Nicho Hynes v Mitch Moses: The former Storm man will be a work in progress for some weeks yet as he settles into life in the halves but such is his skill level that there seems little doubt he'll be a success at halfback. The Eels' general has matured into an elite playmaker and his kicking game is the centrepiece of Parramatta's game plan. Moses had three try assists and two line break assists in a frenetic first half against the Titans while Hynes ran for 123 metres and had one try assist and one line break assist against the Raiders.
Stat attack
The Sharks lost seven games by eight points or less last season and found themselves on the wrong end of another close scoreline in Canberra last week. Matt Moylan put them up by a point with seven minutes to play but the Sharks were unable to grip on and the two competition points went begging.