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There are just four teams left in NRL preliminary finals, with the Melbourne Storm, Cronulla Sharks, Sydney Roosters and South Sydney Rabbitohs set to battle it out for the two spots on offer in the 2018 grand final.
The first preliminary final, between Melbourne and Cronulla, will kick off at 7:40pm (AEST) on Friday, September 21, whereas the Sydney versus South Sydney clash will kick off at 7:40pm (AEST) on Saturday, September 22.
Both of these matches will be available to watch on Fox League (502), with no ad breaks during play. Their coverage will begin at 6:30pm (AEST) for both matches, however, to watch Fox League you will need a valid Foxtel subscription.
Alternatively, you can watch the match on free-to-air through Channel 9. Their coverage begins at 7pm (AEST) on both nights, but you’ll need to check your local listings to see if they’ll be on Nine proper, or an alternate channel like Gem or 9Go.
Foxtel subscribers can watch both matches through the Foxtel App, which is included in any Foxtel subscription at no additional charge.
If you want to watch Foxtel’s coverage, but don’t want the full TV subcription, you can subscribe to their streaming-only service Foxtel Now.
Channel 9’s coverage will be available for free through their 9Now application, while you can also watch the match on your mobile device if you have paid for an NRL Digital Pass.
If you’re overseas, you can try the Watch NRL service.
Date: Friday, September 21
Kick-off: 7:40pm (AEST)
Venue: AAMI Park, Melbourne
TV: Live, Channel 9 and Fox League
Online: Live, Foxtel App, Foxtel Now, 9Now, NRL Digital Pass
Betting: Storm $1.37, Sharks $3.10
Overall record: Played 36, Storm 22, Sharks 14
Last meeting: Round 22, 2018 – Storm 14-17 Sharks
Record in finals: Played 2, Storm 1, Sharks 1
Melbourne Storm
1 Billy Slater, 2 Suliasi Vunivalu, 3 Will Chambers, 4 Curtis Scott, 5 Josh Addo-Carr, 6 Cameron Munster, 7 Brodie Croft, 8 Jesse Bromwich, 9 Cameron Smith, 10 Tim Glasby, 11 Felise Kaufusi, 12 Joe Stimson, 13 Dale Finucane
Interchange: 14 Kenneath Bromwich, 15 Christian Welch, 16 Ryan Hoffman, 17 Nelson Asofa-Solomona
Cronulla Sharks
1 Valentine Holmes, 2 Sosaia Feki, 3 Jesse Ramien, 4 Ricky Leutele, 5 Edrick Lee, 6 Matt Moylan, 7 Chad Townsend, 8 Andrew Fifita, 9 Jayden Brailey, 10 Matt Prior, 11 Luke Lewis, 12 Kurt Capewell, 13 Paul Gallen
Interchange: Scott Sorensen, 15 James Segeyaro, 16 Aaron Woods, 17 Jayson Bukuya
The Storm had to fight hard in their qualifying final against Souths, scoring a thrilling 29-28 victory off the back of a late Cameron Munster field goal.
They enter this match as warm favourites after the week off, and will be looking to reach their third grand final in a row.
Cronulla, on the other hand, were stifled by the Roosters in a 21-12 qualifying final loss, but bounced back with a similarly thrilling 21-10 win over Penrith thanks to a Chad Townsend field goal.
Despite entering this match as outsiders, the Sharks will be buoyed by the knowledge they’re one of a handful of sides who can truly say they’ve had Melbourne’s number of late.
Date: Saturday, September 22
Kick-off: 7:40pm (AEST)
Venue: Allianz Stadium, Sydney
TV: Live, Channel 9 and Fox League
Online: Live, Foxtel App, Foxtel Now, 9Now, NRL Digital Pass
Betting: Roosters $1.75, Rabbitohs $2.10
Overall record: Played 218, Rabbitohs 113, Roosters 100, 5 draws
Last meeting: Round 22, 2018 – Rabbitohs 14-18 Roosters
Record in finals: Played 11, Rabbitohs 6, Roosters 5
Sydney Roosters
1 James Tedesco, 2 Daniel Tupou, 3 Mitchell Aubusson, 4 Joseph Manu, 5 Blake Ferguson, 6 Luke Keary, 7 Cooper Cronk, 8 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, 9 Jake Friend, 10 Siosiua Taukeiaho, 11 Boyd Cordner, 12 Isaac Liu, 13 Victor Radley
Interchange: 14 Lindsay Collins, 15 Zane Tetevano, 16 Nat Butcher, 17 Ryan Matterson
South Sydney Rabbitohs
1 Alex Johnston, 2 Campbell Graham, 3 Greg Inglis, 4 Dane Gagai, 5 Robert Jennings, 6 Cody Walker, 7 Adam Reynolds, 8 Thomas Burgess, 9 Damien Cook, 10 George Burges, 11 John Sutton, 12 Angus Crichton, 13 Sam Burgess
Interchange: 14 Hymel Hunt, 15 Cameron Murray, 16 Jason Clark, 17 Dean Britt
It doesn’t get any better than this, a Saturday night clash between rugby league’s two oldest rivals with a coveted grand final appearance on the line.
After a fourth minor premiership in six seasons, the Roosters got their finals campaign off to the ideal start with an impressive 21-12 victory over the Sharks.
Fresh off the bye, they’ll enter as slight favourites over their archrivals, who had to take the hard way after their heartbreaking loss to the Storm.
Souths got to taste a one-point victory last week, however, downing the Dragons 13-12 on the back of three field goals by Adam Reynolds.
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