NRL finals live updates: Sharks shake-up starting lineup for knockout final

The preliminary final between the Roosters and Sharks has begun!

The Roosters kicked off first.

Brad Fittler has delivered a reality check to both these teams.

“I’ve got say tonight, if you lose, it’s a fail. It’s an absolute fail,” he said on Nine’s coverage.

“Some teams can get this far, and it can be a success, not these two teams ... there’s a lot at stake here tonight.”

Meet Luke Abouv. He's the Chookpen drummer and has been to every match this year. It must be nice to have money.

His old man was the original Chookpen drummer, but when he could no longer do it, Luke took over.

For the drum nerds out there, it's a custom Roosters shell with a pair of fresh Remo heads.

Well this is a first, these three lads asked me to try and get Adam Gee's attention for them.

I thought it was because they were one of the few who wanted to be referees when they grew up.

Turns out, Hugh here in the Chooks jersey had his old man’s credit card.

"I don't want a referee, just a referee biased to the Roosters," he said.

He's at the footy with his mates Lachy and River.

Ronaldo Mulitalo and Mark Nawaqanitawase clashed in the last match between these both sides and they’ll no doubt be competing hard against each other again.

“He’s strong, a generational talent but hopefully we get the better of him today as a group,” Mulitalo told Nine.

“I’m looking forward to the contest.”

We’re around 15 minutes away from kick off and the fans are ready to go!

Braydon Trindall has had major shoulder injuries heading into this match.

Tonight he’ll wear a brace to help him and Paul Gallen decided to be the male model of it on Nine’s coverage.

Gallen pointed to the strap on the bicep and how it will limit the amount of movement you get.

“It allows a little more range, the lower down the bicep it goes, the less range you get,” he explained.

“We saw last week when he was playing he was limited with his passing ability. They do tell me he’s in a much better position today.”

Sharks captain Cameron McInnes won the toss and will run right side.

The skipper said Nicho Hynes is “up and about, ready to go” after his starring role last week.

As for James Tedesco, he said there was a “lot of positives” to take out of the Penrith match but they were in no way celebrating the performance.

The Sharks have gone for a shake-up with Riley Jones benched and Mawene Hiroti starting at centre.

Sydney Roosters

1. James Tedesco 2. Daniel Tupou 3. Billy Smith 4. Robert Toia 5. Mark Nawaqanitawase 6. Hugo Savala 7. Daly Cherry-Evans 8. Naufahu Whyte 9. Reece Robson 10. Lindsay Collins 11. Salesi Foketi 12. Siua Wong 13. Victor Radley 14. Connor Watson 15. Spencer Leniu 16. Nat Butcher 17. Angus Crichton 18. Cody Ramsey 22. Toby Rodwell

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks

1. William Kennedy 2. Sione Katoa 22. Mawene Hiroti 4. KL Iro 5. Ronaldo Mulitalo 6. Braydon Trindall 7. Nicho Hynes 8. Addin Fonua-Blake 9. Blayke Brailey 10. Jesse Colquhoun 11. Briton Nikora 12. Teig Wilton 13. Cameron McInnes 3. Riley Jones 14. Siosifa Talakai 15. Billy Burns 16. Oregon Kaufusi 17. Thomas Hazelton 20. Niwhai Puru

Good evening, Damien McCartney back on the ground at Allianz Stadium for this NRL semi final between the Roosters and Sharks.

Gates have only just opened for punters to enter the ground, but walking through the Entertainment Quarter next door, the atmosphere was already fantastic.

For those unfamiliar with the area, the Entertainment Quarter is the old Fox Studios.

There are dozens of restaurants and bars, and the place is busy on weekends anyway but on game days the venues are chockers before and after the matches.

Unsurprisingly, it felt like there was a significantly bigger crowd than last week.

You would hope for that to be the case considering two local teams are playing. It looks like the whole stadium is open - last week the very top tier was closed.