Super Saturday continues at 5:30pm AEDT, as the Sharks travel to Townsville to take on the Cowboys, with both teams looking for their first win of the 2025 season. Whilst the Sharks can be reasonably happy with their tight first round the loss to the Panthers in Vegas, there weren’t a lot of positives for the Cowboys to take out of their 42-12 loss to Manly. Can the home crowd boost them towards a better performance, or will the Sharks get their first two points of the season? We bring you our thoughts and betting tips below!
Also, don’t forget to head to our NRL tips page for more previews, analysis and betting tips for every NRL match of every round!
North Queensland Cowboys vs Cronulla Sharks
Location: Queensland Country Bank Stadium – Townsville
Date: Saturday, 15th March
Time: 5:30pm AEDT
Odds: Cowboys ($3.10) vs Sharks ($1.36)
Line: Sharks -8.5
Points: 50.5
Odds and lines provided with thanks to Ladbrokes. Note that odds and lines can fluctuate throughout the week and are correct at the time of writing.
Match Preview
The Cowboys were one of the most disappointing teams in round 1. Despite a tough first up trip to Brookvale, I don’t think many expected such a one-sided matchup. The Cowboys were horrible, particularly in defence, trailing 42-0 after 56 minutes. If the Sea Eagles didn’t take their foot off the gas, this could have been really embarrassing.
Conversely, the Sharks put up an impressive performance in a loss, going down 28-22 to the Panthers in Vegas. The stats were comparable for both teams, with the Sharks making the Panthers miss a whopping 50 tackles, in a strong indication of the teams’ ability in attack. Nicho Hynes still looked a shell of himself, with his level of play dropping severely since his lone State of Origin appearance. If he can get back to his 2023 form, the Sharks will be extremely dangerous this season.
After watching the Cowboys last week, it’s quite unbelievable that these teams last met in week 2 of the NRL Finals last season. The Sharks were the far better team, but they did allow the Cowboys to get back into the game late, conceding 3 tries to 0 in the second half. Nevertheless, the Sharks won and moved on, claiming their fourth win in the previous five meetings with the Cowboys.
Looking towards this game, and the Sharks opened 4.5-point road favourites against the Cowboys prior to last weekend’s games. This week, the Sharks re-opened 6.5-point favourites, with money flying in on the Sharks early, pushing the spread to 9.5. There are some 8.5’s in the market, but the difference between these two numbers in negligible. I don’t believe it will push any higher than 9.5. My number is closer to 6, but it’s hard to catch up with how poor the Cowboys looked in round 1.
The total opened 49.5 and has bumped up to 50.5. I would agree with this wholeheartedly if it wasn’t for the predicted rain during the game. This makes it harder to predict, but I would lean heavily towards the over here.
Whilst it’s not a big bet, I believe the Sharks looked far more impressive than the Cowboys last weekend. There is every chance this is another blowout, and I’ll take the Sharkies to cover the spread for a small bet.
Sharks -8.5
$1.98 (1 Unit)
Same Game Multi
Throughout the 2025 NRL season we’ll be putting together a fun same game multi for every match at BoomBet using their BetShare feature.
To follow our multi, just click on the BoomBet BetShare button below and our same game multi selections will be added straight into your bet slip on BoomBet. You can then enter how much you wish to wager, and with a single click, your bet has been placed!
Leg 1: Sharks ML – As above, Sharks should be far too good.
Leg 2: Ronaldo Mulitalo (1+ try) – Mulitalo has been a try scoring machine for the Sharks for the past five seasons. 7 tries in the past 5 games against the Cowboys for the Sharks winger, and at least one in every game, has me trusting him to score another this week.
Leg 3: Addin Fonua-Blake (1+ try) – AFB is the best try scoring prop in the game by some margin. The Manly forwards smashed through the middle of this Cowboys defence last week, and I expect AFB to score here.
SGM Odds: $5.00 at BoomBet
