5.35pm: Sharks are on the field. Raiders are out now. Enjoy the game. Match report and story to follow on the Leader website.
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5.30pm: The locals are looking fierce!
5.28pm: Forgot to mention, there were a couple of “welcome to Canberra” banners left on the Federal Highway today for Sharks fans making the trip down from the shire. About 20kms out of Canberra, the first said: “Raiders ‘89, ‘90, ‘94 Sharks HAHAHAHA”. The second was more straight to the point: “Cronulla SUX”
5.25pm: 10 minutes away from kick-off. Absolutely packed house here. It’s starting to get VERY loud. You’d think Cronulla’s experienced players like Ennis, Lewis and Maloney need to lead the way tonight, especially given the absence of Gallen.
5.15pm: Not long til kick-off now. Which one of these two blokes will be smiling come about 7.35pm tonight?
5.13pm: The Sharks bays look to be filling up nicely. Cronulla have two bays to themselves over on the Gregan-Larkham Stand side of the ground which they sold out.
4.48pm: Good news! The Sharks Mermaids are here! Crowd building nicely now.
4.41pm: Team news in. Raiders are unchanged. 1-17.
4.35pm: Team news in. Gallen officially out. Bukuya starts with Capewell coming onto the bench.
4.28pm: This might be a good omen for the Sharks! Canberra are being handed a 48-0 drubbing by the Roosters in the Holden Cup semi.
4.20pm: Here’s a look from the press box at GIO Stadium with the under-20s elimination final going on. As you can see, a bit gloomy here!
4.10pm: I mentioned before that it is a bit chilly. About 10 degrees at the moment with a few showers around which you would think might suit Cronulla. The Raiders usually play with a bit of flair in attack which might be tougher given the conditions. The game is a sell out and the crowd is building nicely. Not a lot of black, white and blue in the crowd yet though!
4.00pm: Welcome to The Leader’s live pre-game blog for Cronulla’s qualifying final with the Raiders here at a chilly GIO Stadium in Canberra.
We’ll have official team news just after 4.30pm but we do know Sharks’ skipper Paul Gallen has been ruled out with a back injury he suffered at training during the week.
