It was the fifth placed Sharks, up against a Cowboys team which scraped in the NRL Finals in eighth place in an elimination final played at Allianz Stadium in 2013.
The Sharks came into the contest on the back of a commanding victory over the Raiders, while the Cowboys were equally impressive in their final round match in putting 50 points on the Wests Tigers, the game seeing two in-form teams come together in a sudden-death clash.
The Cronulla side had won 14 games throughout the year, the Cowboys 12, with the teams having played each other twice for two convincing wins to the North Queensland side.
Their most recent match up had occurred just two weeks prior, the Cowboys winning 31-18 in round 25 at the then-named Remondis Stadium.
The Sharks named a team which was missing front rowers Ben Ross and Bryce Gibbs, with both sidelined with injury, leaving the forwards with a difficult assignment up against the likes of international props Matt Scott and James Tamou.
Current Cronulla coach John Morris was Sharks hooker, Paul Gallen the captain, while a youngster named Jason Taumalolo was named in jersey 17 as a part of the Cowboys interchange bench.
The winner was playing for survival and the right to take on Manly in week two of the finals after the Sea Eagles had gone down by 4-0 to the Roosters at Allianz Stadium the previous night.
To coincide with what had been scheduled to be the Sharks v Cowboys round 10 game on the Sunshine Coast this weekend, this Classic Clash, Sharks against Cowboys in an elimination final from 2013, will be live via the website from 4.00pm on Saturday.
The two teams are listed below.
Sharks Team List
2013 Elimination Final
1 Michael Gordon
2 Sosaia Feki
3 Ben Pomeroy
4 Jonathan Wright
5 Beau Ryan
6 Todd Carney
7 Jeff Robson
8 Andrew Fifita
9 John Morris
10 Sam Tagataese
11 Luke Lewis
12 Wade Graham
13 Paul Gallen
INTERCHANGE
14 Isaac De Gois
15 Chris Heighington
16 Jayson Bukuya
17 Anthony Tupou
Cowboys Team List
2013 Elimination Final
1 Matthew Bowen
2 Wayne Ulugia
3 Brent Tate
4 Kane Linnett
5 Antonio Winterstein
6 Johnathan Thurston
7 Robert Lui
8 Matthew Scott
9 Rory Kostjasyn
10 James Tamou
11Gavin Cooper
12 Glenn Hall
13 Joel Riethmuller
INTERCHANGE
14 Jayden Hodges
15 Tariq Sims
16 Scott Bolton
17 Jason Taumalolo
