NRL teams for finals week 2: Mitchell Moses, Campbell Graham among key inclusions
Teams are in for the second week of NRL finals and a number of key players have made the team sheets, while the NRL have made a big call on referee Ashley Klein.
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Mitch Moses is one step closer to playing in Friday’s semi-final against the Raiders while Brad Arthur has stuck by embattled winger Waqa Blake for their most important game of 2022.
But the biggest call for the first final of the weekend could be that referee Ashley Klein will control the match, having been backed in by league officials after he issued an NRL-record seven sin bins in last week’s fiery clash between the Rabbitohs and Roosters.
NRL head of football Graham Annesley on Monday defended Klein’s actions and said it was “clearly a lack of discipline by the players” with two suspensions also coming out of the game.
But the Eel’s inclusion of Moses is a massive boost for a side looking to advance to a preliminary final for the first time since 2009 after fears the key playmaker may have been ruled out after he was knocked out while trying to tackle Penrith’s Viliame Kikau last week.
Jake Arthur has been named on the bench in case the halfback is ruled out.
Moses still has to get through concussion protocols but said on Monday that he was feeling okay after getting his tackle technique horribly wrong.
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“I feel good,” he said.
“Obviously it didn’t look too good. I got my head in the wrong spot and was out cold.
“I didn’t really have any (symptoms). I actually wanted to go back out onto the field. Obviously with how it was, it didn’t look too good so I obviously couldn’t.
“I remembered all the game and I remembered the incident. I didn’t have any headaches so I feel pretty good.”
Eels coach Brad Arthur has named the same 17 that lost to the Panthers, with Blake retained despite dropping three Nathan Cleary bombs.
The Raiders have been forced into one key change with Adam Elliott ruled out with a pelvic injury, but Ryan Sutton is set to make a shock early return from hand surgery that he thought would rule him out for the rest of the season.
The Sharks have also named the same 17 that went down to the Cowboys, but the Rabbitohs have been forced to make one change with English veteran Tom Burgess taking the early guilty plea for his high shot on James Tedesco.
He’ll miss two games and won’t be available until the grand final, with his spot on the bench taken by Michael Chee Kam.
KEY RABBITS SIT OUT TRAINING
Campbell Graham was relegated to a keen observer at training on Tuesday morning but the star South Sydney centre has insisted he is not in doubt for Saturday’s semi final against Cronulla.
Graham told News Corp that Rabbitohs medical staff wanted to give his sore body more time to recover after Sunday’s gruelling encounter against the Sydney Roosters.
The 23-year-old has had a wretched run with injury and concussion recently with the latter rubbing him out of round 25’s match against the Tricolours.
A facial fracture suffered in July playing against Parramatta left him sidelined for seven weeks.
“I’m all good. I just pulled up sore from a pretty physical game,” Graham said.
“The extra days’ rest will do a world of good and I will train with the team tomorrow (Wednesday). The body needs a bit of a rest, I know I have had a few recently...”
Young outside back Jaxson Paulo filled in for Graham at right centre, with Taane Milne out wide, in what was a light training run for the Rabbitohs.
Forward Tom Burgess was also a notable omission at training.
Burgess has been banned for two weeks and will miss Saturday’s clash after taking an early plea for a grade two careless high tackle on James Tedesco which left the Roosters skipper unable to return to the field.
Burgess did eventually make an appearance at Redfern Oval in his civvies, to the delight of his teammates who called him on to the paddock to take part in a final walk through before coach Jason Demetriou called time on the session.
Graham is expecting either rising prop Davvy Moale or the reliable Michael Chee Kam to step in and fill the void left by Burgess against the Sharks.
SUTTON RECOVERS TO REPLACE ELLIOTT
Adam Elliott’s career at the Raiders is over with the hard-running forward facing surgery after being diagnosed with osteitis pubis.
However, Elliott’s devastation has been offset by the excitement of teammate Ryan Sutton, who will make a shock return after fearing his own season was over.
Sutton has been cleared by specialists to line-up for the Raiders in their must-win elimination final against the Eels on Friday night at CommBank Stadium.
Bound for Canterbury next year, Sutton thought his season was finished after requiring finger ligament surgery following the injury suffered in round 22.
The fearless prop’s return will quell the loss of Elliott, whose painful pelvic injury has robbed him of a dream exit from Canberra.
Elliott is in the process of meeting with specialists to determine if the injury requires surgery.
The recovery time can be between two to three months, which will also impact his arrival and pre-season at Newcastle, where he has signed a three-year deal.
ROOSTER TO DODGE BAN
The latest NRL judiciary farce could allow Sydney Roosters enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves to serve his three-game head-slam suspension without missing a club game.
Just a week after the furore around Penrith winger Taylan May’s delayed suspension allowed him to play in the NRL finals, the New Zealand rugby league now wants to use a Rugby League World Cup warm-up game against Leeds and tournament matches against minnows Lebanon and Jamaica as his three-week penalty.
The NRL’s match review committee on Monday hit Waerea-Hargreaves a grade-two contrary conduct charge for an alleged head slam on South Sydney’s Tom Burgess. He is facing a three-game suspension with an early guilty plea, or four weeks if he contests the charge and is found guilty at the judiciary, given it is his third offence this season.
Even if the NRL rejects the Leeds game as an official match, he can serve the third game of his suspension against another ‘giant-killer’, Ireland.
The veteran front-rower would then be freed up to play a likely quarter-final against Fiji and then Australia in the semi-finals.
Interestingly, there were reports out of the Roosters’ camp on Monday that Waerea-Hargreaves suffered a broken wrist early in the brutal elimination final defeat against the Sydney Rabbitohs.
He required painkilling injections at half-time.
Had the Roosters won, he would have missed six weeks of football with the injury.
CONTROVERSIAL PANTHER OUT OF FINAL
Taylan May has been rubbed out of Penrith’s preliminary final showdown, as Canberra coach Ricky Stuart breathes a sigh of relief after key man Joe Tapine escaped punishment for a hit on Melbourne’s Jahrome Hughes.
Tapine faced a nervous wait on Sunday morning as the Match Review Committee made a call on the high shot that had him placed on report in Saturday’s 28-20 win over the Storm.
But the MRC ruled Tapine, who was best on ground for Raiders at AAMI Park, had no case to answer and the in-form forward is free to line-up against Parramatta.
FULL NRL TEAMS FOR FINALS WEEK 2
1st Semi Final, Parramatta Eels v Canberra Raiders, Fri September 16 2022, 7:50pm at CommBank Stadium, Parramatta
Eels: 1. Clinton Gutherson 2. Maika Sivo 3. Viliami Penisini 4. Tom Opacic 5. Waqa Blake 6. Dylan Brown 7. Mitchell Moses 8. Reagan Campbell-Gillard 9. Reed Mahoney 10. Junior Paulo 11. Shaun Lane 12. Isaiah Papali’i 13. Ryan Matterson 14. Makahesi Makatoa 15. Jakob Arthur 16. Oregon Kaufusi 17. Marata Niukore 18. Nathan Brown 19. Bailey Simonsson 20. Bryce Cartwright 21. Ofahiki Ogden 22. Ky Rodwell
Raiders: 1. Xavier Savage 2. Nick Cotric 3. Matthew Timoko 4. Sebastian Kris 5. Jordan Rapana 6. Jack Wighton 7. Jamal Fogarty 8. Josh Papali’i 9. Zac Woolford 10. Joseph Tapine 11. Hudson Young 12. Elliott Whitehead 13. Corey Harawira-Naera 14. Tom Starling 15. Emre Guler 16. Corey Horsburgh 17. Ryan Sutton 18. Albert Hopoate 19. Ata Mariota 20. Matt Frawley 21. Peter Hola 22. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad
2nd Semi Final, Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks v South Sydney Rabbitohs, Sat September 17 2022, 8:00pm at Allianz Stadium, Moore Park
Sharks: 1. Will Kennedy 2. Connor Tracey 3. Jesse Ramien 4. Siosifa Talakai 5. Ronaldo Mulitalo 6. Matt Moylan 7. Nicho Hynes 8. Toby Rudolf 9. Blayke Brailey 10. Royce Hunt 11. Briton Nikora 12. Wade Graham 13. Dale Finucane 14. Teig Wilton 15. Cameron McInnes 16. Braden Hamlin-Uele 17. Andrew Fifita 18. Lachlan Miller 19. Aiden Tolman 20. Braydon Trindall 21. Jesse Colquhoun 22. Mawene Hiroti
Rabbitohs: 1. Latrell Mitchell 2. Alex Johnston 3. Isaiah Tass 4. Campbell Graham 5. Taane Milne 6. Cody Walker 7. Lachlan Ilias 8. Tevita Tatola 9. Damien Cook 10. Mark Nicholls 11. Keaon Koloamatangi 12. Jai Arrow 13. Cameron Murray 14. Kodi Nikorima 15. Hame Sele 16. Michael Chee Kam 17. Siliva Havili 18. Davvy Moale 19. Blake Taaffe 20. Jaxson Paulo 21. Richard Kennar 22. Peter Mamouzelos
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