NRL Teams: Preliminary finals, Gallen returns

Cronulla stars Paul Gallen and Sam Tagataese have been named to return from injury for the Sharks' preliminary final on Friday against North Queensland.

The Cowboys have also received a boost with Kane Linnett recovering from a hamstring injury to take the place of rookie Kalyn Ponga.

Melbourne have named Christian Welch for injured forward Nelson Asofa-Solomona, with Felise Kaufusi and Matt White added to an extended bench to take on a full-strength Canberra on Saturday night in the other grand-final qualifier.

Cronulla Sharks v North Queensland Cowboys,
Friday 23 September at Allianz Stadium, 7:55pm (AEST)

Sharks: 1 Ben Barba 2 Sosaia Feki 3 Jack Bird 4 Ricky Leutele 5 Valentine Holmes 6 James Maloney 7 Chad Townsend 8 Andrew Fifita 9 Michael Ennis 10 Matt Prior 11 Luke Lewis 12 Wade Graham (c) 13 Paul Gallen. Interchange: 14 Gerard Beale 15 Chris Heighington 16 Kurt Capewell 17 Jayson Bukuya 18 Sam Tagataese

Cowboys: 1 Lachlan Coote 2 Kyle Feldt 3 Justin O’Neill 4 Kane Linnett 5 Javid Bowen 6 Michael Morgan 7 Johnathan Thurston 8 Matt Scott 9 Jake Granville 10 James Tamou 11 Gavin Cooper 12 Coen Hess 13 Jason Taumalolo Interchange: 14 Rory Kostjasyn 15 John Asiata 16 Scott Bolton 17 Ben Hannant

Melbourne Storm v Canberra Raiders
Saturday 24 September at AAMI Park, 7:40pm (AEST)

Storm: 1 Cameron Munster 2 Suliasi Vunivalu 3 William Chambers 4 Cheyse Blair 5 Marika Koroibete 6 Blake Green 7 Cooper Cronk 8 Jesse Bromwich 9 Cameron Smith 10 Jordan McLean 11 Kevin Proctor 12 Tohu Harris 13 Dale Finucane. Interchange: 14 Kenneth Bromwich 15 Tim Glasby 16 Christian Welch 17 Ben Hampton 20 Matthew White 21 Felise Kaufusi

Raiders: 1 Jack Wighton 2 Edrick Lee 3 Jarrod Croker (c) 4 Joseph Leilua 5 Jordan Rapana 6 Blake Austin 7 Aidan Sezer 8 Junior Paulo 9 Josh Hodgson 10 Shannon Boyd 11 Josh Papalii 12 Elliot Whitehead 13 Iosia Soliola Interchange: 14 Kurt Baptiste 15 Luke Bateman 16 Paul Vaughan 17 Joseph Tapine

- with AAP