This week’s NRL action opens up with the Canberra Raiders vs Cronulla Sharks at GIO Stadium.
Two teams coming off a loss and two teams who will both be desperate to make amends. It will be interesting to see who wants it more when the Green Machine goes swimming with the Sharks.
Yes, Cronulla are favourites here, but could that play into Canberra’s hands? The Raiders have won each of their last three home matches when they started as the underdog.
Let’s take a look at how these two sides should line up on Thursday night, along with some betting tips for the H2H, first try scorer and over/under markets. Check out our Raiders vs Sharks prediction and preview below.
Raiders vs Sharks Teams
Canberra Raiders
1. Kaeo Weekes 2. Savelio Tamale 3. Matthew Timoko 4. Seb Kris 5. Xavier Savage 6. Ethan Strange 7. Jamal Fogarty 8. Josh Papali'i 9. Tom Starling 10. Joe Tapine 11. Hudson Young 12. Matty Nicholson 13. Corey Horsburgh 14. Owen Pattie 15. Simi Sasagi 16. Morgan Smithies 17. Ata Mariota
Cronulla Sharks
1. Will Kennedy 2. Samuel Stonestreet 3. Jesse Ramien 4. Mawene Hiroti 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 14. Daniel Atkinson 15. Tom Hazelton 16. Toby Rudolf 17. Tuku Hau Tapuha
Raiders vs Sharks Prediction and Betting Tips
Head-to-Head Prediction
As mentioned, both Canberra and Cronulla will be hungry to bounce back after losses last start. The Raiders in particular will be desperate to make amends for their most recent showing, as they became the first team this season to lose to the Cowboys.
Cronulla can’t be too upset going down to the undefeated and table topping Bulldogs and they’ll look to immediately bounce back by taking advantage of a Raiders’ defence that leaked 30 points to North Queensland.
The Sharks are still very much a top four side in our eyes, and we expect them to collect the points down in the Nation’s capital on Thursday night.
Betting tip: Cronulla Sharks.
First Try Scorer Prediction
Originally, we were looking at Sharks’ strike centre Kayal Iro for this market. Iro has been in sensational touch so far this season and has been finding the tryline at a very consistent frequency in 2025.
Unfortunately, though he is set to miss this clash after injuring his hamstring in his side’s loss to Canterbury last week.
Luckily, there’s more than one strike centre in this Sharks’ side and we’ll be backing Jesse Ramien instead to open the scoring down in the nation’s capital.
Betting tip: Jesse Ramien.
Over Under Prediction
Recent history suggests that Cronulla fancy a grind. Each of their last four matches as a favourite have gone under the total match points line here, which is set at 46.5 points.
Betting tip: Under total match points.
Raiders vs Sharks Match Details
Date: Thursday, April 3, 2025.
Kick-off: 8:00pm AEDT.
Location: GIO Stadium, Canberra.