Five tries in the opening 19 minutes of the second half helped Cronulla to a comprehensive 42-16 thrashing of North Queensland on Saturday night.
The Sharks ran in seven tries to three on a hot night in Townsville. Cronulla followed an awful first half performance with an equally scintillating second. The Sharks were electric after half-time as they blew the Cowboys away to notch up back to back wins.
New Sharks head coach John Morris will be excited as his new-look spine start to develop their understanding. New Zealand international Shaun Johnson was again outstanding. As was halfback Chad Townsend, young hooker Jayden Brailey and prop Andrew Fifita.
Sharks captain Paul Gallen broke Cronulla legend Andrew Ettingshausen's all-time appearance record for the club, making his 329th appearance in the black, white and blue. But the milestone occasion ended on a sour note, with Gallen forced from the field at half-time with a rib injury, not to return.
Cronulla made things hard for themselves in the first half, continuing on from their poor second half against Gold Coast last weekend. The Sharks made 10 handling errors in the opening 40 minutes alone in hot conditions, with the 31 degree temperatures at kick-off ensuring the NRL's heat policy was enforced.
The Cowboys, without star forward Jason Taumalolo through injury, had two tries disallowed by the video referee bunker officials inside the opening seven minutes, with both coming from Matt Moylan handling errors.
The Sharks took the lead just before the midway point of the half from a tidy set play. A beautiful no-look short pass from Fifita to Gallen allowed the veteran to attract three defenders before offloading to Townsend, who did brilliantly to gather the ball before stretching out to score.
The Cowboys leveled the scores on the half hour mark when Jordan McLean barged over next to the posts.
North Queensland then took a 10-6 lead to half-time after Sosaia Feki failed to handle a Te Maire Martin grubber kick, with the Cowboys fullback following through to score.
But the Sharks needed less than three minutes of the second half to re-take the lead. Johnson danced across field before threading a grubber kick into the in-goal, with Briton Nikora racing through.
Martin wanted to let the ball run dead but the young back-rower refused to give up, grabbing the ball and touching it down centimetres inside the field of play.
Nikora's effort changed the momentum of the game as five minutes later Cronulla extended their lead thanks to a brilliant individual effort from Jayden Brailey.
The young hooker darted from dummy half 40 metres out from the Cowboys line. Brailey isolated two retreating markers to break the line, before drawing Martin and finding Townsend on his inside for the Yarrawarrah Tigers junior to cross for his second try and first double of his NRL career.
Cronulla then stormed straight down field to score from the next set, their third try inside 10 and a half minutes of the second half. Johnson drifted across field before kicking for the in-goal, with Josh Morris showing great desperation to reach out and score.
They had four tries in 15 minutes when Josh Dugan stormed over as the Sharks turned their first half performance on its head to blow out to a 30-10 lead.
Morris had his second on the hour mark - Cronulla's fifth try in 20 minutes of the second half - with the Sharks leading the second half alone 30-0.
The Cowboys finally got on the board in the second half with 14 minutes to play through Gavin Cooper. But it was too little, too late for the hosts.
Cronulla also lost Moylan to a hamstring injury in the final 10 minutes, which allowed Blayke Brailey to join his older brother, Jayden, on the field in the NRL for the first time.
It was an even prouder moment for the Brailey family when Blayke crossed for his first NRL try with one minute to play.
Matt Prior showed tidy footwork to dance between defenders close to the line before offloading for the younger Brailey to dive over under the posts to put an exclamation point on a memorable victory.
Leader Scoreboard
Cronulla Sharks 42 (Chad Townsend two, Josh Morris two, Briton Nikora, Josh Dugan, Blayke Brailey tries. Shaun Johnson seven goals)
defeated
North Queensland Cowboys 16 (Jordan McLean, Te Maire Martin, Gavin Cooper tries. Jordan Kahu two goals)
at 1300Smiles Stadium, Townsville
Leader man of the match: Shaun Johnson (Sharks)
Sharks' next three: Eels (away), Roosters (home), Panthers (home)
