Cronulla-Sutherland 32–20 North Queensland Cowboys — Preliminary Final, 2016 NRL Finals Series
23 Sep 2016 · Allianz Stadium, Sydney, NSW · Attendance: 36,717
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Preliminary Final, 2016 NRL finals series: Cronulla-Sutherland 32–20 North Queensland Cowboys, at Allianz Stadium, Sydney, NSW on 23 Sep 2016.
Sourcing caveat: Individual try/goal minute timestamps were not available in sources found. Try/goal counts, scorer names, halftime score and attendance are corroborated across multiple sources. No official player-of-the-match award was found for this fixture.
Scorers
| Cronulla-Sutherland | Tries: Maloney; Maloney; Feki; Lewis; Townsend Goals: Maloney (6/8 conversions) |
| North Queensland Cowboys | Tries: Feldt; Feldt; Coote; Hess Goals: Thurston (2/4 conversions) |
Team sheets
| Cronulla-Sutherland | North Queensland Cowboys | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ben Barba | Fullback | Lachlan Coote | 1 |
| 2 | Sosaia Feki | Wing | Kyle Feldt | 2 |
| 3 | Jack Bird | Centre | Justin O'Neill | 3 |
| 4 | Ricky Leutele | Centre | Javid Bowen | 5 |
| 5 | Valentine Holmes | Wing | Kalyn Ponga | 19 |
| 6 | James Maloney | Five-Eighth | Michael Morgan | 6 |
| 7 | Chad Townsend | Halfback | Johnathan Thurston (c) | 7 |
| 8 | Andrew Fifita | Prop | Matthew Scott (c) | 8 |
| 9 | Michael Ennis | Hooker | Jake Granville | 9 |
| 10 | Matt Prior | Prop | James Tamou | 10 |
| 11 | Luke Lewis | Second-Row | Gavin Cooper | 11 |
| 12 | Wade Graham | Second-Row | Coen Hess | 12 |
| 13 | Paul Gallen (c) | Lock | Jason Taumalolo | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Gerard Beale | Rory Kostjasyn | 14 | |
| 15 | Chris Heighington | John Asiata | 15 | |
| 16 | Kurt Capewell | Scott Bolton | 16 | |
| 17 | Jayson Bukuya | Ben Hannant | 17 | |
| Shane Flanagan | Coach | Paul Green | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Ben Cummins and Gerard Sutton (two-referee system) |
Match report
Cronulla-Sutherland's 32-20 win over North Queensland in the 2016 preliminary final at Allianz Stadium sent the Sharks into their first grand final since 1999. Cronulla led 14-0 at halftime after James Maloney — recalled to five-eighth after a mid-season axing — ran riot, scoring two tries and adding six goals in a standout display. The Cowboys, missing spearhead prop Matt Scott, fought back through tries to Lachlan Coote, Kyle Feldt (2) and Coen Hess, but could not overturn the Sharks' dominant start. Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan made just one change, restoring skipper Paul Gallen to lock, while Paul Green's Cowboys — the reigning premiers from 2015 — fielded an unchanged side. The result denied North Queensland a back-to-back title tilt and set up a grand final showdown between Cronulla and the Melbourne Storm the following Sunday, which the Sharks won 14-12.