Loading

Drinkwater nearly gifted Cronulla a try at his own end, but on the next set he darted off a quick pass from dummy-half Reece Robson through the ruck to post the first points.

Cronulla responded when Hynes and Connor Tracey combined to put Ronaldo Mulitalo over five minutes later, before a long run across the defensive line by Chad Townsend gave Semi Valemei his ninth try in as many games.

Off the back of a seven tackle set from Tom Dearden’s miscued kick, Cronulla hummed into gear and quickly put two tries on in as many minutes.

Several offloads early in their set had the Sharks circling and Blayke Brailey shelved a pass to towering Thomas Hazelton next to the posts for their second try of the evening.

A penalty off the restart set gave Cronulla more territory and this time it was fellow interchange front-rower Royce Hunt bagging a try after breaking two tacklers and lunging for the line.

Cronulla remain undefeated at Queensland Country Bank Stadium and have now won 10 of their last 11 against the Cowboys.

AAP

Stream the NRL Premiership 2023 live and free on 9Now.

Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.