It was a disappointing night in the shire on Saturday, with Cronulla’s poor home record continuing with a 16-12 defeat to the Gold Coast.
The Sharks led at half-time after tries to Ricky Leutele and Jayson Bukuya but the Titans rallied in the final 15 minutes to take victory.
A pair of late tries to Leivaha Pulu saw Gold Coast secure a four-point win, inflicting Cronulla’s third home defeat of the season after just eight rounds.
The Sharks only lost one game at Southern Cross Group Stadium, Woolooware last season as they went on to win the premiership.
Cronulla captain Paul Gallen couldn’t hide his frustration at full-time.
“We spoke about it before the game and all week. We knew [Gold Coast] wouldn’t go away and they’d compete for 80 minutes,” he said.
“We got exactly what we spoke about. They didn’t go away all night. They compete on everything and we didn’t have enough respect for the ball.
“It’s an ordinary loss. They played for 80 minutes and we didn’t.”
Leader Scoreboard
Gold Coast Titans 16 (Leivaha Pulu two, Tyrone Roberts tries. Ash Taylor two goals)
defeated
Cronulla Sharks 12 (Ricky Leutele, Jayson Bukuya tries. James Maloney two goals)
at Southern Cross Group Stadium, Woolooware
Crowd: 12,397
Leader man of the match: Jarrod Wallace (Titans)
Sharks’ next three: Tigers (away), Dragons (away), Cowboys (home)