Sharks in derby

The game was a sell out, and the Sharks have now won eight from nine at home this season and have also won all three grades, two weeks in a row, with the Newtown Jets sitting at the top of the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup ladder.

The high flying Sharks have now won their past five games against the Dragons, whose season is gone.

It looked like it was going to be an easy night for the Sharks, who needed only three minutes to open the scoring when Nicho Hynes crossed before the Dragons hit back and kept them honest right to the end.

The Dragons went down a man in the 12th minute when Tariq Sims was sent to the bin for high contact on Sharks winger Connor Tracey who was knocked out before he hit the ground.

The game was held up for five minutes whilst Tracey was stretchered off and a contrite Sims was lucky not to be sent off. He has taken the early guilty plea on a grade three careless tackle and is out for the remainder of the regular season.

When Blayke Brailey was sin binned at half-time the Red V capitalised and the Dragons were back.

With the game in the balance it was a spilled bomb by Tyrell Sloan opening the door for the Sharks, with Briton Nikora linking with Brailey who found Graham for the try and the win.

It was a great night for the Cronulla players reunion with names like Bishop, Porter, Rogers, Ettingshausen, McGaw and others doing their lap of honour-fittingly Sharks third generation debutant fullback Kade Dykes had a good start.

Coach Fitzgibbon said they had a lot of changes to overcome during the week and a lot of hurdles to jump with Lachie Miller a handy replacement for Tracey.

"We still found a way and whoever came in did their job, so I'm happy about that.

"We had changes throughout the game as well so there's a lot of positive stuff with character and toughness but we need to play better than that."

The Sharks now have four matches against teams outside the top eight, starting with the Wests Tigers in Tamworth.