Cronulla Sharks 2017 Season in Review

Cronulla have some high-profile ins and outs, with James Maloney off to Penrith and Jack Bird joining the Broncos, but Josh Dugan and Matt Moylan have arrived as top-line replacements.

While there is conjecture around whether either of those big-name fullbacks will displace incumbent Valentine Holmes, they seem likely to start at centre and five-eighth respectively. Aaron Gray could start at centre or wing. The pack will look very familiar to fans, other than the inclusion of Ava Seumanufagai on the bench.

NRL.com expert Jamie Soward says:

"The most contested spots will be on their bench. Do they carry two hookers or do they use Paulo instead of Segeyaro? Kurt Capewell, can he provide good minutes and not have those inconsistent performances.

"Their side from 1-13 is going to be a side that's able to score points. What's interesting is if it's not working straight away do they put Matt Moylan back to fullback, Holmes to the wing and bring someone into the six role.

"They'll be there or thereabouts come finals time."

NRL.com's predicted Round 1 team:

1 Valentine Holmes, 2 Sosaia Feki, 3 Josh Dugan, 4 Ricky Leutele, 5 Sione Katoa, 6 Matt Moylan, 7 Chad Townsend, 8 Andrew Fifita, 9 Jayden Brailey, 10 Matt Prior, 11 Luke Lewis, 12 Wade Graham, 13 Paul Gallen. Interchange: 14 James Segeyaro, 15 Ava Seumanufagai, 16 Jayson Bukuya, 17 Kurt Capewell. Reserves: 18 Joseph Paulo, 19 Braden Uele, 20 Jesse Ramien, 21 Scott Sorensen