They don’t have a Cleary, Munster or Walsh. But here’s where the Sharks reign supreme

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In simpler times, you’d be surprised how often the best stories and careers in either rugby code started with a call over ringing out over the loudspeaker: could Matty Johns, Trevor Cogger, Adam Ashley-Cooper get off the hill, ditch (skoll) a schooner and digest a pie please, the bench needs an extra body.

In 2025, a year when Cronulla have noted all and sundry writing off their premiership hopes, never have those aforementioned simpler times seemed so long ago.

The Sharks don’t have Nathan Cleary, Cameron Munster or Reece Walsh. But they do have the most effective interchange bench of the four preliminary finalists.

The numbers fall neatly for both grand final qualifiers. In each contest, the first 20 minutes overwhelmingly favour Brisbane and Melbourne.

Both will come off two weeks’ rest for the preliminary finals, and are among the NRL’s best starters this year. No team comes close to the Storm’s +122 points differential in the first quarter of games, but the Broncos’ +78 is significant.

While Cronulla and Penrith lag out of the blocks though, they thrive once the opening interchanges are wrung – scoring 221 and 214 points respectively between the 20th and 40th minutes.

And in no other quarter are the Sharks and Panthers anywhere near as effective in seizing control of their games.

“That’s our point of difference: our bench guys come on and actually elevate our side to another gear,” Sharks skipper Blayke Brailey says.

“Our starting middles are world-class, and then when guys like Sifa [Talakai], Braden [Hamlin-Uele] and even Briton [Nikora] in recent weeks come on – well, they’re all starting middles in their own right, and they can change a game.”

Braden Hamlin-Uele has been strong from Cronulla’s bench.

Cronulla’s upset wins over the Roosters and Raiders in the finals have played out exactly thus.

In consecutive weeks, the Sharks have surged into halftime leads after trailing at the half-hour mark, with a brace of tries in the 34th and 39th minutes (against the Roosters) and the 34th and 37th (against Canberra).

The midfield running of Hamlin-Uele and Talakai proved telling in both wins, even with Tom Hazelton’s heavy concussion against the Raiders requiring an extra-long first stint by star prop Addin Fonua-Blake.

Brailey’s running game has emerged most this season when Cronulla’s bench gets rolling through the opposition ruck.

Meanwhile, Talakai’s ability to defend at centre or anywhere in the middle, while resembling a bowling ball with legs in attack, sees Craig Fitzgibbon adopt an interchange approach outside the NRL norm too.

Cronulla’s combined 423 kilos off the bench is the heaviest of the preliminary final sides, though the Broncos could well shift Kobe Hetherington to lock for hooker Tyson Smoothy come kick-off on Sunday afternoon.

The Sharks are the only side without specific halves cover between numbers 14 and 17, whereas Tyran Wishart, Brad Schneider and Ezra Mam are playmaking utilities.

“But a guy like Sifa gives us a different kind of variety,” Hamlin-Uele says.

“He can play centre, he can play back-row, anywhere in the middle too, he’s a different type of middle and he’s basically three players in one because he plays all those positions at a high quality.

“It means the recipe we’ve got right now, we know our role on the bench and we know how long we’re playing for. Coming off the bench, the idea is, ‘go hell for leather as long as you can’. We don’t leave anything out there because we don’t need to.”

Starting prop Fonua-Blake is averaging five minutes fewer than his last few years at the Warriors and dominating in his second stint, while Nikora’s return from suspension gives the Sharks a right-edge hole runner rated among the best in the game.

Penrith use Liam Henry and Isaiah Papali’i in similar fashion to Cronulla’s big bodies through the middle.

Melbourne’s biggest bench impact comes from Tyran Wishart, who has scored six tries as their No.14 this year – five of them coming when needed most in close wins over Penrith, South Sydney (twice), Gold Coast and Canterbury.

Pat Carrigan’s suspension is a significant curveball for Brisbane given he averages 65 minutes as one of the NRL’s best middles.

But the inclusion of Mam and the hulking Xavier Willison (199cm, 114kg) offer Michael Maguire rare game-breaking abilities as well.

Just as the rare intensity of Origin contests has made the bench composition of NSW and Queensland critical selection points in recent years, NRL finals are trending the same way in terms of increased ball-in-play and the fatigue it generates.

Canterbury’s chopping and changing of their 17 after losing Bronson Xerri and Stephen Crichton to early injuries were just the latest example of the versatility needed off an NRL bench. With no obvious replacement for Braydon Trindall and Nicho Hynes should misfortune strike, the Sharks are running a calculated risk at AAMI Park.

Because if they’re level with Melbourne by the half-hour mark, they have a bench that could make all the difference.

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