The greatest upset of 2025 took place on Saturday night, when the Cronulla Sharks sent the Canberra Raiders home packing, after the latter's most dominant season in 35 years.
The minor premiers, whose season-long underdog mentality led them to the finals, were eliminated in straight sets, leaving Raiders head coach Ricky Stuart speechless.
“We were just outplayed by a better team tonight,” Stuart said in his post-match press conference.
Despite his visible disappointment, he did admit he was impressed with his side in the first half, before dwindling off when it mattered most.
“We were good for the first 38 minutes of the first half, and started well in the second half,” he said.
“Then, a bit of momentum changed.
“Cronulla, they were very good on the back end of that second half.”
When asked if his side had simply just run out of gas, the dejected Stuart answered, “I don't know.”
Despite the loss, Stuart declared the Raiders season a “positive” one.
“The better you get, the more you get hunted,” he said.
“And we did [get hunted] tonight.
”We got beat by a better footy team.”
Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon was visibly ecstatic following the match, resulting in a press conference that quadrupled the length of Stuart's.
He shared that the loss of opposing five-eighth Ethan Strange before the match had him nervous, with fears the Raiders could lift in his absence.
“When they lost Ethan Strange we were like, ‘Oh no',” Fitzgibbon said.
“[Strange] is one of the best players in our competition, he's a star.
“When you lose a player like that, what happens to the rest of the team? They all elevate.”
He conceded that while the Raiders did elevate in Strange's absence, he was “pleased” with his side's ability to stay in the match.
The Raiders enjoyed their best season in nearly four decades, and Fitzgibbon gave them their credit following the upset win.
“Everyone wrote them off at the start of the year,” he said.
“They're the best team all year and minor premiers, so we're pretty pleased with the result.”
While many didn't expect to see the Sharks make it this deep into the finals, Fitzgibbon assured the Shire faithful that the club would not take this opportunity for granted.
”We're not done yet,” the Sharks coach said.
The Sharks will take on the Melbourne Storm in the preliminary final next week, with a chance of earning their first Grand Final berth since 2016.
