North Queensland v Cronulla preview

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North Queensland Cowboys v Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks Friday 6:00pm at Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Townsville / Wulgurukaba

Evenly matched sides to do battle in quest for top 8 position

The Cowboys and Sharks are coming off completely contrasting performances last week, with North Queensland looking promising early before succumbing to Manly and conceding 50 points. 

The Sharks got out to an early lead against Penrith minus their origin stars and were able to hold off a Matt Burton inspired comeback to win by a point. 

Both sides are amongst the group of 8 or so teams vying to get into the bottom of the top 8, and despite the results last week, the Cowboys remain two competition points ahead of the Sharks. 

It means that a win could potentially see them go 4 points ahead of the next highest teams and put them in a comfortable position to continue their charge towards finals football, while a loss would put them even with the Sharks and make the race for the top 8 even more chaotic. 

Both sides will be well aware of the high stakes, so expect the best versions of both the Cowboys and Sharks to be present in Townsville on Friday evening. 

In team news, the Cowboys regain origin winger Kyle Feldt, who comes into the side for Justin O'Neill, who was poor defensively last week. Coen Hess will start at prop, pushing Tom Gilbert back to the bench, while Mitch Dunn returns from suspension to partner Shane Wright in the back row.  Peter Hola drops back to the reserves. 

For the Sharks, Wade Graham hasn't been named after suffering a concussion last Friday. Siosifa Talakai will start in his place, while Teig Wilton is promoted to the interchange bench. 

After taking over the Sharks head coaching job in Round 6, it took Josh Hannay 6 weeks to get his first win in charge of the Cronulla boys. They have since gone on a 3-game winning streak and the halves pairing of Moylan and Johnson appear to be back in form.

The Cowboys have undergone a similar trajectory of improving as the season went on, however last week's performance was simply inexcusable. They will be back at home and defensive issues on the right should be rectified with the inclusion of Feldt, and it'll need to be considering the recent explosive form of Ramien and Mulitalo. 

Last meeting: Round 4 2021 - Sharks 48 Cowboys 10

Who to watch: Despite consistently putting up performances matching that of a top 5 half in the competition, Shaun Johnson remains without a playing contract beyond this year in one of the most baffling scenarios in recent memory. Last year, he led the league in try assists, while this year he has also proven his ability to close out a close game, specifically last week where he not only made the line break to get the Sharks in field position to kick the drop goal, but also backed this up by kicking what would turn out to be the matchwinner a few tackles later. He will want to continue this impressive form to appeal to any potential suitors out there.

For the Cowboys, Murray Taulagi has seemingly come out of the woodwork to announce himself as one of the best wingers in the competition. He's scored 5 tries in his last 3 games and in a well beaten side last week still managed to run for 101 metres and make 4 tackle breaks and a line break. He will be keen to take advantage of the matchup against Will Chambers, who has only just returned to Rugby League, and Connor Tracey, who isn't a natural winger. 

The favourite: The Cowboys are slight favourites to get the job done at home.

My tip: The Sharks absolutely put the Cowboys to the sword when they met earlier in the year, racing out to a 36-6 halftime lead. While this game will be much closer, I don't think the new Cowboys halves pairing of Dearden and Drinkwater will be able to close this one out. Cronulla by 4.

1. Valentine Holmes 2. Kyle Feldt 3. Javid Bowen 4. Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow 5. Murray Taulagi 6. Scott Drinkwater 7. Tom Dearden 8. Coen Hess 9. Reece Robson 10. Jordan McLean 11. Shane Wright 12. Mitchell Dunn 13. Jason Taumalolo 14. Jake Granville 15. Tom Gilbert 16. Lachlan Burr 17. Francis Molo 19. Daejarn Asi

1. Will Kennedy 2. Connor Tracey 3. Will Chambers 4. Jesse Ramien 5. Ronaldo Mulitalo 6. Matt Moylan 7. Shaun Johnson 8. Aiden Tolman 9. Blayke Brailey 10. Aaron Woods 11. Briton Nikora 12. Siosifa Talakai 13. Toby Rudolf 14. Braydon Trindall 15. Teig Wilton 16. Jack Williams 20. Braden Hamlin-Uele 24. Billy Magoulias

Referees: Peter Gough; Sideline Officials: Wyatt Raymond, Liam Kennedy; Video Referees: Matt Noyen;