Recommended!
Fast Payouts
50% matched deposit up to USD $5,000
The Cronulla Sharks have improved sharply over the last two seasons with the acquisitions of head coach Craig Fitzgibbon and halfback Nicho Hynes. However, the club has struggled to find success in finals football. This season is make-or-break for the side, given they have re-signed Braden Hamlin-Uele to partner Addin Fonua-Blake in the front row in 2025.
Will the Sharks be able to improve enough to win their first finals game since they beat the Melbourne Storm in the 2016 NRL Grand Final?
Let’s see how the bookies rate Cronulla’s chances in the 2023 NRL Premiership betting.
Established: | 1963 |
---|---|
Home ground: | PointsBet Stadium |
Coach: | Craig Fitzgibbon |
Captain: | Dale Finucane |
Premierships: | One – 2016 |
2023 ladder finish: | 6th (14-6) |
Recommended!
Fast Payouts
50% matched deposit up to USD $5,000
2024 Premiership | To Make Grand Final | |
---|---|---|
Odds @ BetOnline | $15 | $5.50 |
There are dozens of NRL futures markets for Cronulla, but where are they likely to return some real value?
Click on the tabs below to get more analysis on these markets:
Round | Opponent | Venue | Date | Time (NSW) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Warriors | Go Media Stadium, Auckland | Friday, March 8 | 6:00pm |
2 | Canterbury Bulldogs | PointsBet Stadium, Sydney | Friday, March 15 | 6:00pm |
3 | Wests Tigers | Leichhardt Oval, Sydney | Saturday, March 23 | 7:35pm |
4 | Canberra Raiders | PointsBet Stadium, Sydney | Sunday, March 31 | 6:15pm |
5 | BYE | – | – | – |
6 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | Accor Stadium, Sydney | Saturday, April 13 | 7:35pm |
7 | North Queensland Cowboys | PointsBet Stadium, Sydney | Sunday, April 21 | 4:05pm |
8 | Canberra Raiders | GIO Stadium, Canberra | Sunday, April 28 | 4:05pm |
9 | St George Illawarra Dragons | PointsBet Stadium, Sydney | Sunday, May 5 | 4:05pm |
10 | Melbourne Storm | AAMI Park, Melbourne | Saturday, May 11 | 7:35pm |
11 | Sydney Roosters | Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane | Saturday, May 18 | 5:30pm |
12 | Penrith Panthers | PointsBet Stadium, Sydney | Saturday, May 25 | 5:30pm |
13 | Parramatta Eels | CommBank Stadium, Sydney | Thursday, May 30 | 7:50pm |
14 | Brisbane Broncos | Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane | Saturday, June 8 | 7:35pm |
15 | Dolphins | PointsBet Stadium, Sydney | Thursday, June 13 | 7:50pm |
16 | BYE | – | – | – |
17 | Canterbury Bulldogs | Accor Stadium, Sydney | Friday, June 28 | 8:00pm |
18 | Gold Coast Titans | C.ex Coffs International Stadium, Coffs Harbour | Friday, July 5 | 6:00pm |
19 | Wests Tigers | PointsBet Stadium, Sydney | Friday, July 12 | 8:00pm |
20 | BYE | – | – | – |
21 | North Queensland Cowboys | Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Townsville | Saturday, July 27 | 5:30pm |
22 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | PointsBet Stadium, Sydney | Saturday, August 3 | 7:35pm |
23 | Gold Coast Titans | Cbus Super Stadium, Gold Coast | Friday, August 9 | 6:00pm |
24 | Newcastle Knights | PointsBet Stadium, Sydney | Sunday, August 18 | 4:05pm |
25 | St George Illawarra Dragons | WIN Stadium, Wollongong | Sunday, August 25 | 4:05pm |
26 | New Zealand Warriors | PointsBet Stadium, Sydney | Saturday, August 31 | 7:35pm |
27 | Manly Sea Eagles | 4 Pines Park, Sydney | Sunday, September 8 | 2:00pm |
Born: 18/4/1997
Games: 85
Tries: 19
Position: Centre
Siosifa Talakai is often remembered for his performance in round seven of 2022 against the Manly Sea Eagles where he demolished Morgan Harper, scoring two tries in the first half to go with several tackle breaks, line breaks and try assists. What is not remembered by fans across the league is the enormous workload he gets through every week. In 2023 Talakai averaged 165m per game with 17 try assists, more than the total of every other season he has played in the NRL combined. Defence is Talakai’s biggest issue, and should he improve in 2024, the Sharks will be a very tough team to beat.
Born: 11/7/1999
Games: 51
Tries: 9
Position: Halfback
Braydon Trindall will be the one to watch in the spine for the Sharks this season to track his combination with Nicho Hynes. At halfback, Hynes is an incredibly dominant, hands-on playmaker. Trindall also likes the ball in his hands and can create quality play on the left edge of the field. If Hynes can trust Trindall who, in turn, can create attacking play consistently with Teig Wilton and Siosifa Talakai outside of him, the Sharks will be a very dangerous side this season.
Born: 23/9/1998
Games: 110
Tries: 12
Position: Hooker
Blayke Brailey is one of, if not the last hooker in the NRL capable of playing 80 minutes in the middle at club level. He is an incredible defender with a short kicking game and incredible speed around the ruck that makes the Sharks an attacking side from any point on the field. IF Brailey can continue playing 80 minutes in the middle for coach Fitzgibbon, he will create space on the bench for another forward or attacking utility player that the Sharks can use in a different way to any other side in the NRL.
Although the Sharks made waves when they beat Eastern Suburbs in their first-grade debut, they finished the 1967 season with only three wins to their name. Steady improvement over the following years saw them crack the finals in 1973 and make it all the way to the decider, where they lost to Manly-Warringah in one of the toughest, dirtiest contests ever witnessed. The two teams met on the same stage five years later with similar results.
Cronulla fell on hard times in the early 1980s. The club went into administration in ’83 and received a bailout from the league – a luxury afforded to neither Western Suburbs nor Newtown, the latter of which soon folded. Hope sprang from the emergence of local lad Andrew Ettingshausen, who would go on to become one of Cronulla, NSW and Australia’s most celebrated players.
Despite their on-field promise, the Sharks were drowning again by 1990 and went into receivership three years later. Again, financial hardship heralded a new wave of success. John Lang took the coaching reins in 1994 and steered the club to the semi-finals or better six times in eight seasons. During this time Cronulla joined the breakaway Super League and reached the grand final of the competition’s only season in 1997, where they lost to the Brisbane Broncos.
For all that effort, premiership success continued to elude the Sharks. Their chances grew dimmer after former Melbourne Storm coach Chris Anderson succeeded Lang in 2002 and set about dismantling the playing group, much to the chagrin of the supporters. Stuart Raper came and went, Ricky Stuart came and went, and still no flag for the Shire. Other difficulties arose, including a supplements scandal that marred the 2013 and 2014 campaigns.
Cronulla would have to wait until 2016 – a year in which the AFL’s Western Bulldogs and the EPL’s Leicester City also broke long-running droughts. They entered the NRL Grand Final as rank underdogs against the Storm, but a star turn from Clive Churchill Medal winner Luke Lewis inspired the Sharks to a 14-12 win that was 50 years in the making.
Recommended!
Fast Payouts
50% matched deposit up to USD $5,000