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There was no feeding frenzy from the Sharks in Newcastle on Sunday as they toyed with their prey before gradually devouring them 34-14 degustation style.
They could afford to take their time because the Knights offered up no threat as they slumped to their fourth loss in six starts.
Craig Fitzgibbon’s crew has returned to the top eight with successive wins to get up to a 4-3 record even though they are yet to recapture the form which took them to last year’s grand final qualifier.
Earlier on the Gold Coast, the Titans surrendered a 16-0 early lead in typically embarrassing fashion as Canberra improved to a 5-2 record with a 30-20 triumph.
Raiders duo Hudson Young and Joseph Tapine were placed on report for high shots as the Green Machine did enough to win even though they were well below their best.
If you had been asked before the start of the match how this game would play out, Cronulla pretty much followed the script.
They were professional, not what you would call flashy but did more than enough to keep the Knights at arm’s reach.
Cronulla converted their overwhelming field position into tries to props Oregon Kaufusi and Addin Fonua-Blake before Sam Stonestreet sliced through for a 16-0 buffer.
Greg Marzhew managed a rare Knights four-pointer to reduce the gap to 12 at the break but Stonestreet backed up a Jesse Ramien intercept and fullback Will Kennedy pounced on a grubber while the hosts were down to 12 to make it 32-4
With nearly half an hour left, the game clock accidentally reset to show just two seconds remaining. Unfortunately for the Knights, the correct time was restored.
Marzhew muscled past six defenders to set up a Fletcher Sharpe try before Mawene Hiroti crossed in the closing stages to further disappoint Newcastle’s near sell-out crowd although many of them had understandably headed for the exits well before full-time.
John Denver blared out from the speakers when James Schiller touched down just before the final siren but many Knights fans had already found a country road to take them home
There are no bad players on the Sharks and they are polished in every facet on the field.
But they are not doing anything exceptionally well so sixth spot on the ladder is an accurate reflection of how their season has fared so far.
Are they building to a deep finals run or are they just a pretty good team? That question was not answered in Newcastle on Sunday but unlike their opponents, they have hope in 2025.
Will Kennedy. (Photo by Scott Gardiner/Getty Images)
Knights coach Adam O’Brien has faith in his safety-first philosophy.
It has taken them to the finals more often than not under his watch but it’s not working in 2025.
After cobbling together just 46 points in their first six matches, the Knights were again clueless in attack against Cronulla.
They did not find touch after getting an early penalty, displayed poor discipline in defence and their attacking shape was so bunched up thar Phil Gould likened them to an under 6s team on Nine as the majority of their side bunched behind the play the ball.
Gould chimed in with a few “dear oh dears” before ending the first half with “oh the pain”, Mr Smith style, from sci-fi classic Lost in Space.
This was apt because on the rare times Newcastle found space they appeared lost.
They knew the general direction of the try line off in the distance but their stars were not aligned in plotting a path to their desired destination.
It’s going to be a long winter in the Hunter.
Teig Wilton can count himself as the unluckiest player to get placed on report this round.
And surely the match review committee will take no further action.
The Cronulla edge forward rushed out of the line to put a ball and all hit on Newcastle half Tyson Gamble in the 29th minute.
Wilton’s Roger Ramjet-like chin accidentally collided with Gamble’s face with the journeyman playmaker ending up with a bloodied nose.
Referee Ashley Klein told a clearly perplexed Wilton that he had a “duty of care to avoid any head contact” when making a tackle.
Rugby league is not like car insurance where all claims to be assessed on who is more at fault.
In a body contact sport, accidents do happen and don’t always need to be penalised.
Titans prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard suffered the same injury after he was as whacked by a high tackle from Tapine and almost had to beg with the referee to give him a penalty after staying down on his knees as the blood turned his famous moustache a bright shade of red.
Knights Immortal Andrew Johns was bemused in the second half of the clash with the Sharks when winger James Schiller was sin-binned after clipping Mawene Hiroti high with a glancing blow which also drew blood.
“What do we want the game to look like?” he fumed, arguing Schiller was just doing what he was coached in trying to shut down a try-scoring play.
However, there was no doubt that he hit the centre high so Klein had little option.
Ricky Stuart was red faced with rage early in proceedings on Sunday as he watched his team fumble and bumble their way to a 16-point deficit.
He was relieved by half-time after his side had drawn level and breathing a big sigh of relief by the end after they had hit something close to top gear in registering their 10-point win.
That’s now five wins from seven starts for a team predicted to be wooden spoon contenders heading into the season.
Everyone thought this would be a rebuilding year for Stuart’s youthful squad but that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to struggle.
Strange is showing no signs of second-year syndrome at five-eighth, winger Savelio Tamale has been impressive after switching from the Dragons and young English forward Matty Nicholson has shown he’s up to the task of making the leap to the NRL.
“We were our own worst enemy for the first 25 minutes, but I wasn’t panicking,” Stuart said. “As soon as we gained field position at the end of the first half we took advantage of it, and that is probably what won it for us.”
Even when the Titans run in three unanswered tries to kick off a match, there is an overwhelming sense of dread about whether they can maintain their positive start.
And that anxiety was well founded on Sunday.
After tries to Beau Fermor, Jojo Fifita and a clever solo effort to AJ Brimson, coach Des Hasler benched starting middles Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and Reagan Campbell-Gillard in the Gold Coast heat at the 25-minute mark.
Replacement forward Jaimin Jolliffe knocked on with his first touch and when the half-time siren sounded 15 minutes later, there scores were level after Savelio Tamale, Young and Ethan Strange had crossed the stripe.
Hasler put Fa’asuamaleaui back on the field from the get-go in the second half but with the game on the line, a Jamal Fogarty bomb summed up the difference between the teams.
As three Titans players within spitting distance stood and watched like performance art statues, Raiders centre Seb Kris flew high to score virtually unchallenged.
Then with the Titans an outside chance with eight minutes left after 26-year-old rookie winger Allan Fitzgibbon’s first NRL try, Brimson conservatively booted downfield early on one set before Brian Kelly outlandishly kicked from his own in-goal area a minute later.
No cohesion, no organisation and no idea.
It’s no wonder they are considered Parramatta’s main rivals for the wooden spoon.
“There’s a real fix in our game that we need to address quickly. We got away to a start … but there is just this presence of real negative play,” Hasler said.
The Bunker was supposed to be cracking down on poor defensive reads on obstruction calls.
But the Knights had a try disallowed in the first half which looked like a case of Hynes making a bad read as he tried to tackle decoy runner Thomas Cant.
Even though Klein was right on the spot and told Hynes that he thought it was his error, the Bunker intervened to say Cant “stops in the line and affects Nicho Hynes’ ability to slide over and defend”.
Phil Gould blew up deluxe in the Nine commentary box: “That’s just wrong. That’s players making a fool of the rules. Why does the referee allow the Bunker to overrule him like that?”