Within the space of six glorious hours, Cronulla’s NRL and NRLW sides have secured preliminary final berths at opposite ends of the country.
Despite bookmakers considering them outsiders in both competitions, the pair of wins mean the Sharks are still alive in the race for both the men’s and women’s premierships in 2025.
In their NRLW semi final on Saturday afternoon, the Sharks knocked out the Cowboys in Townsville, 24-18, booking a preliminary final against reigning premiers the Sydney Roosters in a repeat of the 2024 NRLW grand final.
Meanwhile last night in Canberra, Craig Fitzgibbon’s Sharks eliminated the minor premiers to secure a winner-take-all date with the Storm next Friday night in Melbourne.
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Broncos also in the running for historic NRL-NRLW double
Since the inception of the NRLW in 2018, no club has won the NRL and NRLW premierships in the same season.
However heading into next weekend’s preliminary finals, both the Sharks and Broncos have a chance to change that.
In a huge afternoon of finals footy next Sunday, Brisbane’s NRLW side will host the Newcastle Knights at Suncorp Stadium before the men’s team take on either the Bulldogs or Panthers for a spot in the NRL grand final on October 5.
Back in 2022, the Parramatta Eels saw both its NRL and NRLW teams qualify for the premiership deciders—however neither side was able to lift the trophy with the men losing to the Panthers and the women falling to the Knights.