Sharks sound alarm with dominant win over Dragons

The Cronulla Sharks have taken a big step towards a top-four finish with a hard-fought 38-10 victory over the St George Illawarra Dragons. 

The visitors ground their opponents down throughout the 80 minutes, repelling a willing Dragons side desperate to solidify their place inside the eight in their final game of the season at WIN Stadium. 

Instead, it was the Sharks who sent the sold-out crowd home disappointed, scoring four tries in the final 23 minutes to claim their ninth-straight win over their local rivals. 

The Sharks have now overtaken the Panthers to climb to third on the ladder with two matches remaining after Penrith suffered a shock loss to the Raiders on Saturday.

The second-placed Roosters, Sharks and Panthers are all level on 36 points. The Bulldogs are breathing down their necks on 34 points in fifth.

Sunday's result leaves the Dragons precariously placed on 28 points in eighth place. The Broncos, Dolphins, Knights and Raiders are all two points back and desperate to overtake St George Illawarra.

Cronulla halfback Braydon Trindall was outstanding in his first game back from a hamstring injury and hooker Blayke Brailey was busy in both attack and defence on Sunday afternoon. 

The Sharks burst out of the gates, with starting props Toby Rudolph and Oregon Kaufusi laying the foundation up front with a series of powerful carries.

The early dominance eventually led to points through a Jesse Ramien try but the momentum was halted when the centre was sent to the sin bin in the 17th minute.

St George Illawarra struggled to make the most of the extra man but they eventually hit the front when Jack Bird crossed in the 23rd minute to make it 6-4. 

Errors and penalties crippled the Dragons' attempts to kick clear and the Sharks continued rolling through the middle in the final 15 minutes of the first half. 

The visitors were able to convert their territorial advantage into a lead on the scoreboard, Kayal Iro and Samuel Stonestreet scoring to ensure a 14-6 lead at the break.

The Dragons thought they had hit back immediately after the resumption however they were denied by the bunker when Tyrell Sloan was penalised for interference in the race for a grubber. 

They weren't to be denied in the 55th minute, however, when Christian Tuipulotu crossed in the corner to cut the deficit to four.

The joy was short-lived for the hosts with Sharks fullback Will Kennedy leaping over opposing No.1 Tyrell Sloan to snare a bomb and score between the posts.

From there, Cronulla kicked clear, Briton Nikora, Stonestreet and Mawene Hiroti crossing the stripe to secure a hard-fought win.