NRL teams and Late Mail for Round 11 of season 2018

BULLDOGS back-rower Raymond Faitala-Mariner is likely to be ruled out of Canterbury’s clash with Cronulla — check out the latest Round 11 team news.

BULLDOGS back-rower Raymond Faitala-Mariner is likely to be ruled out of Canterbury’s clash with Cronulla.

The in-form forward suffered an ankle injury in the win over Parramatta last week that is expected to see him miss the visit to the Shire.

In other injury news:

CRONULLA captain Paul Gallen is a near-certainty to return against Canterbury as the resurgent Sharks eye a fifth-straight NRL win.

Following four weeks on the sidelines with a grade-two medial ligament tear, coach Shane Flanagan revealed his veteran warhorse “is on track” for Saturday’s home clash after training well on Thursday night.

In another boost, Josh Dugan is a chance to slot back into fullback provided his foot pulls up well on Friday, while Luke Lewis and Wade Graham are also pushing for returns.

“Nothing’s certain in this game but he trained well (on Thursday) and everything’s on track,” Flanagan said of Gallen.

“Over the next couple of weeks we should get a few (of players) back.

“Luke Lewis is very very close, Wade Graham’s probably next week as well.

“Duges trained well (on Thursday) so he’s a chance to play, we’ll just have to see how he pulls up today.

“Those decisions will be made on Saturday.”

Paul Gallen is expected to return for the Sharks.

In other Late Mail for Round 11:

* Canberra’s Blake Austin is expected to play for the Raiders just seven days after suffering a game-ending ankle injury.

ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS V CANBERRA RAIDERS

Sunday 2pm at Glen Willow, Mudgee

Dragons: 1 Matt Dufty, 2 Nene Macdonald, 3 Euan Aitken, 4 Tim Lafai, 5 Jason Nightingale, 6 Gareth Widdop (c), 7 Ben Hunt, 8 James Graham, 9 Cameron McInnes, 10 Paul Vaughan, 11 Tyson Frizell, 12 Tariq Sims, 13 Jack De Belin

Interchange: 14 Jeremy Latimore, 15 Kurt Mann, 16 Leeson Ah Mau, 17 Blake Lawrie

Reserves: 18 Reece Robson, 19 Zachary Lomax, 20 Mitchell Allgood, 21 Hame Sele

Players cut: To come

St George Illawarra stars Jack de Belin and Ben Hunt are expected to be fit to take on Canberra on Sunday. Hunt and de Belin were both in doubt after sustaining cork and hip injuries respectively in Sunday’s loss to South Sydney, but returned to training with the Dragons on Thursday. “Jack on the weekend and Kurt (Mann) went off and Benny copped a bit of a cork, but they all seem to be all right,” Dragons captain Gareth Widdop said.

Late mail:

Raiders: 1 Jack Wighton, 2 Nick Cotric, 3 Jarrod Croker (c), 4 Joseph Leilua, 5 Jordan Rapana, 6 Blake Austin, 7 Aidan Sezer, 8 Iosia Soliola, 9 Siliva Havili, 10 Shannon Boyd, 11 Joseph Tapine, 12 Elliott Whitehead, 13 Josh Papalii

Interchange: 14 Ata Hingano, 15 Luke Bateman, 16 Charlie Gubb, 17 Dunamis Lui

Reserves: 18 Liam Knight, 19 Michael Oldfield, 20 Sam Williams, 21 Craig Garvey

Players cut: To come

Late mail: Five-eighth Blake Austin is a chance to face the Dragons in Mudgee after injuring his ankle against Cronulla. Austin trained with the NRL club on Wednesday in a bid to prove his fitness for Sunday’s game against ladder-leaders St George Illawarra. If ruled out, Ata Hingano or Sam Williams will replace Austin in the halves.

Blake Austin is a chance to face the Dragons in Mudgee.

CRONULLA SHARKS V CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS

Sunday 4.10pm at Southern Cross Group Stadium

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 Kurt Capewell, 11 Jayson Bukuya, 13 Paul Gallen (c)

Interchange: 14 Joseph Paulo, 15 James Segeyaro, 16 Ava Seumanufagai, 17 Jack Williams

Reserves: 18 Kurt Dillon, 19 Braden Uele, 20 Luke Lewis, 21 Josh Dugan

Players cut: Captain Paul Gallen is a near-certainty to return from a knee injury, while Josh Dugan is a chance to slot back into fullback provided his foot pulls up well.

Late mail: To come

Bulldogs: 1 Moses Mbye, 2 Brett Morris, 3 Josh Morris, 4 Will Hopoate, 5 Marcelo Montoya, 6 Matt Frawley, 7 Kieran Foran, 8 Aaron Woods, 9 Jeremy Marshall-King, 10 David Klemmer, 11 Josh Jackson (c), 12 Raymond Faitala-Mariner, 13 Rhyse Martin

Interchange: 14 Adam Elliott, 15 Clay Priest, 16 Renouf Toomaga, 17 Kerrod Holland

Reserves: 19 Greg Eastwood, 20 John Olive, 21 Asipeli Fine, 23 Michael Lichaa

Players cut: To come

Late mail: To come

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