2025 Preview: Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks

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Andrew Ferguson has a look at the NRL season ahead for the boys in the black, white and blue.

The Sharks have appeared in the finals in 11 of their last 13 seasons.

In that time, their style has morphed from an almost boring, grinding style of attack and a stingy defence - into a free-flowing attacking machine whose defence is still pretty impressive. This evolution has ensured they remain as one of the elite teams in the NRL.

The last few seasons, they've also managed to minimise roster changes, which ensures stability and cohesion is as high as it possibly can be. This rings true again in 2025, as they've lost four players and gained two.

The one criticism though that has stuck with the Sharks for a long time is their inability to convert their good performance throughout the year into success during the finals. 19 wins from 52 finals appearances in their entire history, 1 win from the 9 finals matches they've played since winning the 2016 Premiership, including all of their last 6 finals. Getting to the finals is the easy part for the Sharks - being significant in the finals is their problem.

They come into 2025 without Dale Finucane, Royce Hunt and Jack Williams, however, to cushion the blow of losing three regular forwards, they did snare Addin Fonua-Blake who had a tremendous season at the Warriors last year. The Sharks have good forwards depth, so this signing along with the elevation of some depth forwards will cover the departures.

Why they'll win it

The Sharks attack is rock solid. Will Kennedy at fullback is a brilliant defensive fullback, but who also has a fantastic running game. Nicho Hynes is a brilliant ball player and Braydon Trindall is a natural half. Blayke Brailey will be on the cusp of Origin selection this year if he continues his consistently strong performances.

They have scoring weapons on the wings in Ronaldo Mulitalo and Sione Katoa, their back rowers are full of brilliant line runners, such as Briton Nikora, Teig Wilton, Thomas Hazelton and Siosifa Talakai, while up front they have good power and mobility to make the big metres through the middle.

Why they won't

September. The finals really are the Sharks kryptonite. They were fairly criticised for failing to beat top sides in 2023. In 2024 they addressed that reasonably well, but then fell apart in the finals.

The Sharks have all the experience they need, clearly have all the skill and the defensive capabilities to be a top contender every year, but continue falling short in pressure games.

2025 fixture list

Key Players

Blayke Brailey continues to be one of the most vital players in the Sharks side. He gets their mobile pack marching up field and then he is able to drop out to first receiver when in the attacking red zone to create a third playmaker, or give his halves extra space to work with. Nicho Hynes is a brilliant ball player and has a strong running game to boot. It would not surprise if the Sharks switch up their halves this year and put Hynes at five-eighth in order to give him more space and promote his running game. Braydon Trindall bounced back from his off-field misdemeanour strongly last year, proving he wants to make up for his mistake. He became a genuine leader at halfback and looked at times to steer the team around the park better than Hynes.

Rookie Players

Young fullback Liam Ison is an exciting young prospect. He is fast, fantastic in broken field play, a fantastic ball-player, unselfish, great support player and dangerous everywhere in attack. The Sharks will be keen to get him into their NRL side this year. Big forward Tuku Hau Tapuha will be getting plenty more game time as he joins the forward bench rotation for the Sharks in 2025. Standing 196cms tall and tipping the scales at 114kgs, he's going to be an absolute menace for tiring defenders.

Player Movement

IN: Addin Fonua-Blake (Warriors), Hohepa Puru (Canberra)

TOP 30: Addin Fonua-Blake, Billy Burns, Blayke Brailey, Braden Hamlin-Uele, Braydon Trindall, Briton Nikora, Cameron McInnes, Daniel Atkinson, Hohepa Puru, Jayden Berrell, Jesse Colquhoun, Jesse Ramien, Kade Dykes, Kayal Iro, Mawene Hiroti, Nicho Hynes, Niwhai Puru, Oregon Kaufusi, Ronaldo Mulitalo, Sam Stonestreet, Sione Katoa, Siosifa Talakai, Teig Wilton, Toby Rudolf, Tom Hazelton, Tukupa-Ke Hau Tapuha, William Kennedy

OUT: Royce Hunt (Wests Tigers), Jack Williams (Parramatta), Siteni Taukamo (Newcastle)

DEVELOPMENT: Dylan Coutts, Liam Ison, Max Bradbury

Best 17

1 - Will Kennedy
2 - Ronaldo Mulitalo
3 - Jesse Ramien
4 - Kayal Iro
5 - Sione Katoa
6 - Nicho Hynes
7 - Braydon Trindall
8 - Addin Fonua-Blake
9 - Blayke Brailey
10 - Toby Rudolf
11 - Briton Nikora
12 - Teig Wilton
13 - Cameron McInnes

14 - Siosifa Talakai
15 - Oregon Kaufusi
16 - Braden Hamlin-Uele
17 - Thomas Hazelton