Cronulla have not named Valentine Holmes to make his return from a hamstring injury against Canberra.
The Sharks travel to the nation’s capital to face the Raiders on Saturday night, the venue of their heroic semi-final victory last season which helped propel them towards their maiden premiership.
Coach Shane Flanagan has named the same 17-man squad that played in the opening round loss to Brisbane which means Holmes has again missed out.
Speaking in the lead up to the Broncos clash, Flanagan told media last week he thought Holmes would be right to play the Raiders.
“Our medical staff will probably give him the week off. He should be right for Canberra,” he said.
“It’s one of those things, a hamstring for an athlete like Val who does a lot of high speed running that we need to make sure that he’s 100 per cent right and not 95 per cent. Some of the other players in the team, might not reach high speeds too often. But Val is going to reach high speed 20 or 30 times per game.
“We need to make sure that he’s 100 per cent right because it’s a long season.”
Ricky Stuart has named Jack Wighton and Junior Paulo to return for Canberra, with Clay Priest suspended.
Meanwhile, St George Illawarra have named an unchanged side for their clash with Parramatta in Wollongong on Sunday.
Joel Thompson urged his teammates to stay focused ahead of the Eels, wanting to build on the big opening win over Penrith.
“We have plenty of belief here,” Thompson said.
“Everyone was writing us off everywhere we looked. We need to put in performances like that week-in, week-out as well as build on last week.”
Sharks v Raiders at GIO Stadium, Canberra. Saturday 7.30pm
Cronulla Sharks: 1 Gerard Beale, 2 Sosaia Feki, 3 Jack Bird, 4 Ricky Leutele, 5 Edrick Lee, 6 James Maloney, 7 Chad Townsend, 8 Andrew Fifita, 9 Jayden Brailey, 10 Matt Prior, 11 Luke Lewis, 12 Wade Graham, 13 Paul Gallen. Interchange: 14 Jayson Bukuya, 15 Chris Heighington, 16 Sam Tagataese, 17 Fa’amanu Brown. Reserves: 18 Tony Williams, 19 Kurt Capewell, 20 Joseph Paulo, 21 Jeremy Latimore
Canberra Raiders: 1 Jack Wighton, 2 Nick Cotric, 3 Elliott Whitehead, 4 Joey Leilua, 5 Jordan Rapana, 6 Blake Austin, 7 Aidan Sezer, 8 Junior Paulo, 9 Josh Hodgson (C), 10 Shannon Boyd, 11 Josh Papalii, 12 Sia Soliola, 13 Luke Bateman. Interchange: 14 Adam Clydsdale, 15 Dunamis Lui, 16 Jeff Lima, 17 Scott Sorensen. Reserves: 18 Jordan Turner, 19 Zac Santo, 20 Makahesi Makatoa, 21 Lachlan Croker
Dragons v Eels at WIN Stadium, Wollongong. Sunday 6.30pm
St George Illawarra Dragons: 1. Josh Dugan, 2. Nene Macdonald, 3. Euan Aitken, 4. Tim Lafai, 5. Jason Nightingale, 6. Gareth Widdop ©, 7. Josh McCrone, 8. Russell Packer, 9. Cameron McInnes, 10. Paul Vaughan, 11. Tyson Frizell, 12. Joel Thompson, 13. Jack de Belin. Interchange: 14. Tariq Sims, 15. Leeson Ah Mau, 16. Jacob Host, 17. Jai Field. Reserves: 18. Kurt Mann, 19. Taane Milne, 20. Luciano Leilua, 21. Hame Sele
Parramatta Eels: 1. Bevan French, 2. Semi Radradra, 3. Michael Jennings, 4. Brad Takairangi, 5. Josh Hoffman, 6. Clinton Gutherson, 7. Corey Norman, 8. Suaia Matagi, 9. Kaysa Pritchard, 10. Tim Mannah ©, 11. Manu Ma’u, 12. Tepai Moeroa, 13. Beau Scott ©. Interchange: 14. Nathan Brown, 15. Rory O’Brien, 16. Daniel Alvaro, 17. Frank Pritchard. Reserves: 18. David Gower, 19. Cameron King, 20. George Jennings, 21. Marata Niukore
