After earning a ticket to the post season with a win in Round 27, the Roosters will look to extend their unbeaten run to six against the Sharks in a sudden-death clash.
The Tricolours simultaneously kept their own season alive and ended the premiership hopes of arch-rivals the Rabbitohs last week with a 26-12 win, and heading into Finals Week One only the Knights are riding a better run of form than Trent Robinson’s men.
Cronulla too have enjoyed a strong final month to the regular season, winning four of their last six, and will be battle-hardened after emerging 24-6 winners over the Raiders in a match which for the opening hour had the intensity of finals football.
With victory last week the Sharks earned the right to play at PointsBet Stadium, where they have won six of 10 this season, although the Roosters have good recent memories there too having won in four of their past five visits.
When they met in Round 7 this year it was the Sharks who came away with a 22-12 home win, which was Cronulla’s first win over the Roosters since July 2017.
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Team News
Sharks: No further changes an hour from kick-off, after Braden Hamlin-Uele withdrew on Friday due to a knee complaint, with Royce Hunt coming in to start and Jesse Colquhoun the new man on the bench. Fullback Connor Tracey (knee) is good to go while the man he has replaced for the past five games, Will Kennedy, remains sidelined with a hamstring injury.
Roosters: Trent Robinson's 17 is unchanged, but a late positional switch sees Egan Butcher start at prop and Fletcher Baker revert to the bench. Joey Manu returns from a layoff with a hamstring injury, while Junior Pauga is on the wing in place of Daniel Tupou.
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Stat Attack
- Cronulla prop Braden Hamlin-Uele will make his 100th NRL appearance in Saturday night’s elimination final. The 28-year-old has played all but one of his NRL games with the Sharks after making his NRL debut for North Queensland in 2017.
- Sharks winger Ronaldo Mulitalo has scored 26 tries in 24 games at PointsBet Stadium.
- Roosters captain James Tedesco has scored seven tries in his past eight finals matches.
- The Roosters give away 6.5 penalties per game on average, the most of any team in the NRL.
- After averaging 17 points scored through their first 19 games, the Roosters have scored 29.6 on average through their last five games.
- The Roosters have won seven of their past eight games against the Sharks.
- Sharks centre Jesse Ramien has scored a try in his past five games at PointsBet Stadium.
- The Sharks have lost their past five finals games.
- This will be the 50th game played between these clubs at PointsBet Stadium.
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Stats supplied by David Middleton, League Information Services, author of the official annual of the NRL.