Cronulla are circling the NRL’s top four after scoring their fifth win in a row, downing Canterbury 22-16 on Sunday.
The Sharks welcomed back captain Paul Gallen and star fullback Josh Dugan from injury, while Jayson Bukuya was a late inclusion after overcoming a virus.
More than 14,000 fans packed into Shark Park on a glorious autumn afternoon as Cronulla ran out six-point winners to jump up to fifth place on the table.
Dugan had gifted Canterbury the opportunity to open the scoring inside 10 minutes when he dropped a long clearing Moses Mbye kick.
The Bulldogs had been contained inside their own 20 metre area when Mbye was forced to kick long, his swirling effort knocked on by Dugan to give Canterbury field position.
The visitors made the most of their good fortune with Josh Morris easing past Jesse Ramien to score.
Cronulla hit back five minutes later when Edrick Lee continued his outstanding form to touch down in the corner. The giant Sharks winger finished off a shift to the left, with Dugan making up for his earlier error with a perfect cut out pass to Lee.
The Sharks would go back to back to extend their lead. A penalty allowed them to march down field and, on the back of strong carries from Andrew Fifita and Gallen, a set play saw Matt Moylan kick across field early in the tackle count with Valentine Holmes given the easiest task of catching unchallenged and touching down.
Canterbury hit back five minutes before half-time. This time it was Josh Morris whose sublime catch and pass for brother Brett allowed the winger to dive over in the corner.
An Mbye penalty goal just before the break leveled the scores at 10-all before a bizarre passage of play could have had the Sharks back in front five minutes into the second half.
Mbye had done brilliantly to scoop up a Moylan grubber kick on the fly but, as the Bulldogs fullback was being driven back towards his own goal line, Mbye attempted to pass the ball to Matt Frawley.
Frawley, under pressure, dropped the pass with the ball now free in the in-goal area. But despite a decision of try from referee Matt Ceccin, the video referee officials ruled Jayden Brailey had also knocked on, much to the bemusement of the home crowd.
But the Sharks weren’t to be denied their lead, with a superb Ramien solo effort putting Cronulla in front 16-10 nine minutes into the second half. The young centre stepped off his right foot and angled his way back towards the posts, beating seven Bulldogs defenders to slam the ball down.
Again Canterbury refused to quit. The Morris brothers had their third try between them when Brett crossed for his second midway through the second half as Cronulla’s right side defence again came up short.
Mbye’s unhappy afternoon with the boot continued which allowed the Sharks to stay in front with the match turning into a grind as it headed towards its climax.
And it was another strong solo effort for Cronulla, this time from Matt Prior, that would see the Sharks home.
The prop seemingly had nothing on as he hit the ball up near Canterbury’s line, only to poke his head through and somehow avoid a double movement to reach out and score next to the posts.
The Bulldogs went close to setting up a grandstand finish when Kieran Foran broke through, only for the halfback to be ruled to have grounded the ball short of the line when reaching out to score.
Dugan was sent to the sin bin late on as the Sharks held on despite a late Mbye penalty goal. Cronulla travel to Newcastle next Sunday to face the resurgent Knights.
Leader Scoreboard
Cronulla Sharks 22 (Edrick Lee, Valentine Holmes, Jesse Ramien, Matt Prior tries. Chad Townsend three goals)
defeated
Canterbury Bulldogs 16 (Brett Morris two, Josh Morris tries. Moses Mbye two goals)
at Southern Cross Group Stadium
Crowd: 14,004
Leader man of the match: Matt Moylan (Sharks)
Sharks’ next three: Knights (away), Rabbitohs (away), Tigers (home)