Cronulla-Sutherland 40–24 St George Illawarra — Semi-Final, 2002 NRL Finals Series
21 Sep 2002 · Sydney Football Stadium, Moore Park, Sydney, NSW · Attendance: 31,783
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Semi-Final, 2002 NRL finals series: Cronulla-Sutherland 40–24 St George Illawarra, at Sydney Football Stadium, Moore Park, Sydney, NSW on 21 Sep 2002.
Sourcing caveat: No try-scoring minutes were found for this fixture. Cronulla started Matthew Johns (not Jye Mullane, who started five-eighth in Week 1) at #6 five-eighth, and #19 (Paul Gallen) started second row with #14 (Danny Nutley) starting prop rather than off the bench — reported exactly as sourced. Both kickers' conversion/penalty-goal splits are unconfirmed (see goals field).
Scorers
| Cronulla-Sutherland | Tries: Peachey; Franze; Franze; Mellor; Bailey; Bickerstaff; Bird Goals: Kimmorley (6 successful goals — combined total; the source does not distinguish conversions from penalty goals for this player in this match, so no split is asserted) |
| St George Illawarra | Tries: Gasnier; Hookey; Ryles; Ryles Goals: Clarke and Riddell combined for 4 successful goals (2 each) — the source gives a combined total without a conversion/penalty-goal split for either kicker, so none is asserted |
Team sheets
| Cronulla-Sutherland | St George Illawarra | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Peachey (c) | Fullback | Ben Hornby | 1 |
| 2 | Matthew Rieck | Wing | Wise Kativerata | 2 |
| 3 | Chris McKenna | Centre | Mark Gasnier | 3 |
| 4 | Paul Franze | Centre | Lee Hookey | 4 |
| 5 | Paul Mellor | Wing | Leo Clarke | 5 |
| 6 | Matthew Johns | Five-Eighth | Trent Barrett (c) | 6 |
| 7 | Brett Kimmorley | Halfback | Willie Peters | 7 |
| 8 | Jason Stevens | Prop | Luke Bailey | 8 |
| 9 | Dean Treister | Hooker | Shane Millard | 16 |
| 14 | Danny Nutley | Prop | Jason Ryles | 10 |
| 19 | Paul Gallen | Second Row | Justin Smith | 11 |
| 12 | Phil Bailey | Second Row | Lance Thompson | 12 |
| 13 | Nick Graham | Lock | Jason Hooper | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 11 | Matt Bickerstaff | Mark Riddell | 9 | |
| 15 | Dean Bosnich | Craig Stapleton | 14 | |
| 16 | Karl Lovell | Nathan Tutt | 15 | |
| 18 | Greg Bird | Brent Kite | 19 | |
| Chris Anderson | Coach | Andrew Farrar | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Bill Harrigan |
Match report
Cronulla avenged their opening-week form with a high-scoring demolition of St George Illawarra, seven tries — including a Paul Franze double — enough to book a preliminary final against the Warriors. It extended the Dragons' season one match short of the Grand Final for a second straight year.