Cronulla turned in one of their best second-half performances of the season to come from 18-0 down to end North Queensland's 11-game winning streak on Saturday night.
The Sharks trailed 18-0 at half-time before surging to score four unanswered tries after the break to earn a valuable two points and storm into the top eight for the first time this season.
It looked as though the Cowboys, missing champion halfback Jonathan Thurston, were going to cruise to their 12th win in a row as they charged to an 18-0 lead inside the opening 26 minutes.
But whatever Sharks coach Shane Flanagan said to his team at the interval did the trick.
Flanagan introduced mercurial fullback Ben Barba off the bench six minutes into the second half with Luke Lewis almost immediately crashing over.
It was a good night for Cronulla's big men as Sam Tagataese and then Andrew Fifita barged over to level the score at 18-all after an hour.
Eight minutes later Cronulla were in front.
A deft Jeff Robson kick into the in-goal saw Cowboys fullback Lachlan Coote fumble the ball for Sharks centre Ricky Leutele to touch down.
Gordon continued his perfect night with the boot to give Cronulla a six-point lead - an advantage they wouldn't relinquish.
Cronulla hooker Michael Ennis paid tribute to the Sharks big men who were outstanding in combating North Queensland's star-studded forward pack.
"Andrew and Dave (Fifita) were excellent but Tagataese off the bench tonight was enormous for us," he said.
"The Cowboys are the form team of the comp. They didn't have JT (Thurston) tonight but they replaced him with another Origin star in Michael Morgan.
"At 18-0 down, everything going against us, that's a good win for us.
"We just needed to turn the penalty count and turn possession around and we did.
"We had a good start to the second half. It's a good win."
The win sees Cronulla jump into the top eight for the first time this season - a result few would have predicted after the Sharks lost their opening four games of the campaign.
Leader Scoreboard
Cronulla Sharks 24 (Luke Lewis, Sam Tagataese, Andrew Fifita, Ricky Leutele tries. Michael Gordon four goals.)
defeated
North Queensland Cowboys 18 (Jake Granville, Justin O'Neill, Antonio Winterstein tries. Ethan Lowe three goals.)
at 1-300 Smiles Stadium, Townsville.
Crowd: 18,826.
Leader man of the match: Michael Ennis.
Sharks next three: Manly (away), St George Illawarra (home), Canberra (away).
