Sutherland have finished their season in fine style, securing the Leader Cup with a 5-2 thrashing of local rivals Rockdale City on Sunday.
The Suns were humbled on their home patch, with the Sharks scoring a famous win at the Ilinden Sports Centre to climb above Rockdale and finish eighth on the table.
Rockdale slumped to 10th on the NPL 1 table to end a tumultuous campaign on an embarrassing note.
Two goals to Bai Antoniou and goals to Charles Lokolingoy, Jordan Morfitis and Jerry Skotadis secured the result for Sutherland, while Alec Urosevski scored a pair of late consolation goals for Rockdale.
Morfitis gave the Sharks the lead inside eight minutes, with Skotadis striking three minutes before half-time to give the visitors a 2-0 lead at the break.
Sutherland went on with the job in the second half to end their season on a high and give them optimism looking forward to 2020.
Rockdale, who sacked coach Paul Reid after a slow start the campaign, will now look for answers with pressure on not to repeat their dismal season.
Wollongong were crowned premiers with a 1-0 win over Marconi to earn a week off for the first round of the finals.
Sutherland and Rockdale will meet each other in the under-20s qualifying final this weekend after finishing second and third respectively.