Sharks v Rabbitohs preview

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks v South Sydney Rabbitohs
Remondis Stadium - Monday 7:00pm

Can Cronulla make it three wins on the trot against a depleted Rabbitohs side?

Cronulla pushed their way further up the ladder with their second consecutive win by dismantling Newcastle 22-6 last Friday at Remondis Stadium. The win was set up by another strong performance by their forward pack, none more so than Andrew Fifita who ran for over 200m and 30 tackles. They'll have to do it without Fifita this week however, who despite getting his dangerous throw charge downgraded will still miss two weeks. Sam Tagatese comes into the prop position for Fifita and jayson Bukuya comes onto the bench after an injury To David Fifita.

Souths were sent crashing back to earth on Monday night by North Queensland. Leading 12-4 at the break, the Cowboys ran in 26 unanswered points to hammer the Rabbitohs 30-12 on the back of a third consecyive man of the match effort by Jonathan Thurston and a spirited and classy display from hooker Jake Granville.

Souths seemed rudderless at times minus Adam Reynolds. They will be desperately hoping for a late inclusion of either Dylan Walker or John Sutton to add a much needed impetus to the Rabbitohs attack.

Souths line up the same as last week and have also brought in Cameron Mcinnes as 18th man. Glenn Stewart will again be given the task of playing Five-Eighth.

Last meeting: Round 11 2014 - Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 0 South Sydney Rabbitohs 18
Souths have won 3 of he past 5 although have only won a paltry 12 games out of 41 held at Remondis Stadium. Will the home ground advantage help the Sharks over the line?

Who to watch: The Sharks minus Andrew Fifita will be heavily reliant on Captain Paul Gallen, despite carrying heavy hip bruising he is still favoured to play.

Coming off a great performance last week against Newcastle where he ran for 136m, 24 tackles, 2 tackle busts and 3 offloads in just 54 minutes. We all know what you get with A Paul Gallen Performance and his string caries and offloads could be the nucleus for a Sharks win.

For Souths look for a big effort from Greg Inglis, who by his own high standards has been a little down this season. With Reynolds out and Souths lacking points, look for some huge carries by GI and him busting the line. If he hits his straps then it could be a cricket score down at Cronulla!

The favourite: Souths have the edge in this one, despite last week's poor performance.

My tip: I'm calling the upset and reckon Cronulla will grind out a famous win on Monday night. If the weather turns south like it's supposed to it could be a real arm wrestle and that will suit the Sharkies just fine.
Sharks to win by 6.

1. Valentine Holmes 2. Sosaia Feki 3. Gerard Beale 4. Ricky Leutele 5. Michael Gordon 6. Jack Bird 7. Jeff Robson 8. Sam Tagataese 9. Michael Ennis 10. Chris Heighington 11. Luke Lewis 12. Wade Graham 13. Paul Gallen
Interchange: 14. Ben Barba 15. Anthony Tupou 16. Matt Prior 17. Jayson Bukuya 18. Tinirau Arona

1. Greg Inglis 2. Alex Johnston 3. Daryl Millard 4. Bryson Goodwin 5. Joel Reddy 6. Glenn Stewart 7. Luke Keary 8. George Burgess 9. Issac Luke 10. David Tyrrell 11. Chris Grevsmuhl 12. Chris McQueen 13. Jason Clark
Interchange: 14. Ben Lowe 15. Nathan Brown 16. Tim Grant 17. Thomas Burgess 18. Cameron McInnes

Referees: Ben Cummins, Matt Noyen; Sideline Officials: Nick Beashel, Ricky MacFarlane; Video Referees: Steve Chiddy, Ben Galea;

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