SHARKS

The Sharks felt the full wrath of the Melbourne Storm side last week and were defeated 48 – 6 at AAMI Park.

It was the Sharks fifth loss from the past six matches, four of which have been by 13+ margins.

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It’s been a horror season for the Sharks who have had three coaches in the past twelve months, a stack of off-field drama and an injury list second to none however, this is a game when they can actually salvage something – not winning the Wooden Spoon.

The Sharks, on their day, can be a real nuisance to sides as demonstrated by the recent win over Penrith and earlier in the year, Brisbane and the Roosters.

They return to Remondis Stadium for the first time in three weeks but will be looking for only the fourth win at the venue this year. Their last home win come seven matches ago when the accounted for the Panthers in round 8.

Another week, another bagful of changes for the Sharks with Anthony Tupou returning to the second row, pushing Tupou Sopoaga back to the bench. Michael Lichaa also returns to the starting lining up at hooker.

RAIDERS

So out of form are the Raiders at the moment, that not even a record of fourteen year old record of losses for the Dragons when visiting Canberra, was enough to help the hapless the Raiders to a win.

The Raiders got off the perfect start with Josh Papalli crossing in just the third minute and despite the Dragons hitting back with two tries of their own, the Raiders managed to take a 12 – 10 lead into the break.

Scoring first in the second half, the Dragons hoodoo looked set to continue but as they did against Parramatta the week before, the lack of experiencing in winning games saw the Raiders unable to capitalize on their position.

The Dragons ran in four unanswered tries in the final twenty-five minutes to win 34 – 16.

The effort has been there for the Raiders for the majority of the game the past weeks but until they can tough out a win, it’s hard to tip them to.

Unfortunately Jordan Rapana, who has created a good impression at fullback in the past fortnight, is out injured with his being taken by Jack Wighton. Also out is Brett White with his front row position taken by Dane Tilse.

HEAD TO HEAD

The Sharks won on both occasions that these two sides met last year, winning by 10 and 20 points.

Collectively, the two sides have won four of their last twenty games and with the Sharks record at home this year reading poorly, it’s hard to take either side with a great deal of confidence.

Four of the past five clashes between the two have resulted in at least 50 match points being scored. With both sides desperate to avoid the Wooden Spoon and set to chance their arm, reaching the 43.5 match line set for this game may be the way to go rather than putting faith in either side.

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Teams:

Sharks: Michael Gordon, Sosaia Feki, Jonathan Wright, Ricky Leutele, Valentine Holmes, Fa’amanu Brown, Jeff Robson, Tim Robinson, Michael Lichaa, Matt Prior, Chris Heighington, Anthony Tupou, Paul Gallen.
Interchange: Pat Politoni, Junior Roqica, Tupou Sopoaga, Blake Ayshford, Sione Masima (one to be omitted).

Raiders: Jack Wighton, Bill Tupou, Jarrod Croker, Jeremy Hawkins, Edrick Lee, Anthony Milford, Josh McCrone, Shannon Boyd, Glen Buttriss, Dane Tilse, Josh Papalii, Jarrad Kennedy, Joel Edwards.
Interchange: Mitch Cornish, Matt McIlwrick, Kyle O’Donnell, Paul Vaughan.