{"id":157150,"date":"2025-09-20T18:53:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T18:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/157150\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T18:53:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T18:53:08","slug":"sharks-bench-blayke-brailey-and-where-to-now-for-canberra-nrl-finals-raiders-vs-sharks-talking-points-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/157150\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharks bench, Blayke Brailey and where to now for Canberra? NRL Finals, Raiders vs Sharks talking points – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cronulla Sharks<\/a> are through to the preliminary finals, despite being written off ahead of the finals.<\/p>\n

A superb performance against minor premiers the Canberra Raiders<\/a> has kept their season alive, and they will now travel to Melbourne for a chance to play in the grand final.<\/p>\n

Here are the big talking points from the contest.<\/p>\n

The Sharks should send the Broncos a christmas card
The Canberra Raiders<\/a> weren’t helped by late shuffles to their side, but they were flat.<\/p>\n

I wrote about it pre-game, but the Raiders were always going to struggle picking themselves up off the canvas both physically and mentally from last week’s 94-minute qualifying final against Brisbane.<\/p>\n

They had that game won three times, and then had just six days – with an awards night in between – to try and work out how to win a game of footy with their season on the line.<\/p>\n

It’s just not going to happen.<\/p>\n

Coach Ricky Stuart<\/a> admitted pre-game that it had ‘been a tough week’, and that’s exactly the way the contest played out for the Green Machine.<\/p>\n

They had plenty of ball early, couldn’t capitalise, and then were cannon fodder for the Sharks during the second half.<\/p>\n

Ethan Strange is key to Canberra
The late out inferred above was of course Ethan Strange<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The five-eighth has barely put a foot wrong throughout the course of the season, combining brilliantly with halfback Jamal Fogarty<\/a>, who himself has had a poor finals series given the expectations he set during the regular season.<\/p>\n

Strange brings a certain level of toughness you don’t see in other halves though, while his running game is also strong.<\/p>\n

Simi Sasagi<\/a> didn’t disgrace himself, but he also didn’t have the sort of game Strange has churned out time and time again this year, and it impacted the Raiders.<\/p>\n

Whether it would have been enough to counter the issues around the six-day turnaround will never be known, but it would have made a dent.<\/p>\n

Sharks bench will determine preliminary final
The finals so far have seen the Sharks take over games they started very slowly in.<\/p>\n

While Addin Fonua-Blake<\/a> is excellent, the men in black, white and blue have just not been able to get on top of teams during the early running.<\/p>\n

That wasn’t the case on Saturday in Canberra though, with Siosifa Talakai<\/a> again cementing his position as one of the game’s best impact players, while Braden Hamlin-Uele<\/a> and Briton Nikora<\/a> were also sensational.<\/p>\n

What the bench did in turning the game for the second straight week is all the more impressive when you consider Thomas Hazelton<\/a> was knocked out just four minutes into his work.<\/p>\n

If they play at their best, they can go with the Storm next week, although it has to be said the Sharks can’t afford to start slowly again if they are a shot at playing in the decider.<\/p>\n

Blayke Brailey is in the running for Kangaroos jersey
The one player who has led the charge all year for Cronulla is Blayke Brailey<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For a dummy half who seemed to be consistently short of his potential in years gone by, 2025 has been a real breakout year for one of the game’s most consistent players.<\/p>\n

He has played every minute of every game this year, and that continues a streak that has been running for years now.<\/p>\n

The hooker was again superb on Saturday, with his speed around the ruck helping the Sharks to flip the game.<\/p>\n

Next week, he runs into Harry Grant<\/a>, and you can expect Kevin Walters<\/a> will be keeping a very close eye on the contest – it should almost be a straight up shootout for the Australian number nine jumper when that side is picked for the Ashes after the grand final.<\/p>\n

What’s next for Canberra?
The Raiders have blown a golden opportunity to be in the mix for a premiership over the last fortnight.<\/p>\n

That might seem harsh, but there are no two ways about it.<\/p>\n

The issue for the Green Machine is that, in many ways, they go back to square one next year.<\/p>\n

Jamal Fogarty<\/a> leaves for the Manly Sea Eagles<\/a>, their elite middle are all a year older, and while some of the younger players have another year under their belt, it won’t mean much if there isn’t a halfback to lead the club around.<\/p>\n

Ethan Sanders<\/a> hasn’t quite lived up to his potential in the NSW Cup<\/a> this year, and the Raiders, who attempted to sign an experienced halfback but haven’t yet done so, will likely be relying on him to wear the number seven next year.<\/p>\n

As much as some of their players will be better for the finals run, there is also the lingering doubt that this year could be a flash in the pan for Stuart’s side.<\/p>\n

It has taken some pressure off him and his players, but it’s critical they start 2026 strongly. We just aren’t sure if that premiership window that opened so abruptly remains open in the immediate future.<\/p>\n

KL Iro has one more skill to perfect for perfection
KL Iro<\/a> just seems to get better and better every time he gets onto the field. His form, coming back from injury, has been superb, and he hasn’t missed a beat from the games he played earlier in the year.<\/p>\n

The star centre’s running and defence is starting to rival some of the best centres in the game.<\/p>\n

There is one skill he is yet to perfect though – his passing.<\/p>\n

It’s not that he can’t pass. More that he doesn’t quite have the decision making around when to pass, and when to hang onto it, down pat.<\/p>\n

I commented to my housemate who is a mad Sharks fan that it’s kind of like watching Josh Dugan<\/a> when he was at the Dragons in the centres. <\/p>\n

He’ll make something happen, but frustrate you in equal parts with some of the blown tries by not getting rid of the ball.<\/p>\n

If he works on that side of his game during the off-season, he could very well become the NRL’s best centre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cronulla Sharks are through to the preliminary finals, despite being written off ahead of the finals. A…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-157150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}