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Penrith Panthers vs Cronulla Sharks Tips & Preview -Panthers to begin title defence in low-scoring NRL win

Ryan Tucker

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Last updated: 27 Feb 2025

Ryan Tucker 27 Feb 2025

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Penrith Panthers vs Cronulla Sharks expert predictions for Sunday’s Round 1 NRL game
Panthers hold strong head-to-head record over Sharks
Predicted low-scoring game in Las Vegas with Panthers favored to win

Penrith Panthers vs Cronulla Sharks Preview
Head to Head
Penrith Panthers Form Analysis
Penrith Panthers Team News
Penrith Panthers Team List
Cronulla Sharks Form Analysis
Cronulla Sharks Team News
Cronulla Sharks Team List

Penrith Panthers vs Cronulla Sharks Preview

Penrith kick off their 2025 campaign and premiership defence and are tipped for a hard-fought win over Cronulla Sharks in Las Vegas.

The Panthers have dominated this matchup in recent years and I'm backing them to keep the Sharks under their team total in a low scoring game.

Penrith are 8-2 straight up and ATS against Cronulla in their last 10 games.
4 of the last 5 games between these teams have gone Under the Game Total.
Paul Alamoti has scored 3 tries in his last 2 games, Cronulla allowed 7 tries in last 5 games to right wingers.
Addin Fonua-Blake scored 8 tries last season, 2 as first tryscorer and 2 as second.

Head to Head

Penrith dominate the Head to Head record between these teams dating back to the 2019 season. Last year they won the single regular season matchup 42-0 then beat the Sharks 26-6 in the Preliminary Final.

Cronulla’s most recent win came in the 2021 season and was only the second time in the last 10 games they have beaten the 4 time premiers.

Penrith Panthers Form Analysis

Penrith secured their 4th straight premiership last season defeating the Melbourne Storm 14-6 in the Grand Final, the team that last beat them in a Grand Final in 2020.

Despite a raft of injuries to their players throughout the season, especially Nathan Cleary who missed 14 games in 2024, the Panthers still secured a top 4 spot and were the best team on the park when the time came.

The team averaged the most run metres last year at 1594m per game while featuring in the top 4 for Linebreaks, Tackle Busts and Tackles in Opposition 20m. They have lost some experience and poise with Jarome Luai, James Fisher-Harris and Sunia Turuva all leaving in the off-season.

The Panthers allowed an average of just 16.2 pts per game to opponents as the home team in 2024.

Penrith Panthers Team News

Brian To’o has not been able to recover from injury in time to take his place in the team for round 1 with Paul Alamoti taking his spot on the wing and Luke Garner going to centre. Kiwi prodigy Casey McLean is the new winger with Sunia Turuva leaving for the Tigers.

Jack Cole is the starting five-eighth with Jarome Luai also departing for the Tigers, new recruit Blaize Talagi is in the reserves.

Lindsay Smith has big shoes to fill in the front row with James Fisher-Harris now with the Warriors, Scott Sorensen keeps his backrow spot over Isaiah Papali’i.

Penrith Panthers Team List

1. Dylan Edwards

2. Casey McLean

3. Izack Tago

4. Luke Garner

5. Paul Alamoti

6. Jack Cole

7. Nathan Cleary

8. Moses Leota

9. Mitch Kenny

10. Lindsay Smith

11. Scott Sorensen

12. Liam Martin

13. Isaah Yeo

Interchange

14. Daine Laurie

15. Isaiah Papali'i

16. Matthew Eisenhuth

17. Luron Patea

Reserves

18. Brad Schneider

19. Mavrik Geyer

20. Jesse McLean

21. Luke Sommerton

22. Blaize Talagi

Cronulla Sharks Form Analysis

The Sharks bowed out of the finals race last season in the prelim against this very Panthers team 26-6. Apart from a stretch of 1 win in 6 games through the middle portion of the season they were one of the in-form teams of the NRL in 2024 finishing 4th on points differential.

They were graced with a favourable schedule last season having only 9 games against teams that finished in the top 8, they came away with a 6-3 record in those games.

Cronulla had to go without their main playmaker in Nicho Hynes for 9 and a half games in 2024 but they were able to weather the storm with players like Braydon Trindall, Will Kennedy and Blayke Brailey all stepping up.

Cronulla Sharks Team News

Sione Katoa will be out for a good chunk of the season with Sam Stonestreet getting first dibs on the wing position. Addin Fonua-Blake is the other addition to a relatively similar lineup from 2024.

Daniel Atkinson will come off the bench as the utility, Toby Rudolf is serving a one match suspension and misses this game.

Cronulla Sharks Team List

1. Will Kennedy

2. Sam Stonestreet

3. Jesse Ramien

4. Kayal Iro

5. Ronaldo Mulitalo

6. Braydon Trindall

7. Nicho Hynes

8. Addin Fonua-Blake

9. Blayke Brailey

10. Oregon Kaufusi

11. Briton Nikora

12. Teig Wilton

13. Cameron McInnes

Interchange

14. Daniel Atkinson

15. Sifa Talakai

16. Braden Hamlin-Uele

17. Tom Hazelton

Reserves

18. Tuku Hau Tapuha

19. Mawene Hiroti

20. Billy Burns

21. Jayden Berrell

22. Hohepa Puru

Verdict

Penrith Panthers v Cronulla Sharks

The defensive trends point to a low Game Total which is strengthened by the Sharks inability last season to score against top defensive teams. I am taking Cronulla Under their Team Total but cannot pass up an opportunity to take AFB as first try scorer for his new club.

Under 40.5

Game Total

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Sharks Under 16.5

Team Total

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