Cronulla five-eighth Braydon Trindall has turned in a masterclass to inspire a club-record 66-0 thrashing of the dire Dolphins and lift the Sharks inside the top four.
On his 27th birthday, the classy playmaker took control with an elite passing and kicking display to lift the visitors to a 24-0 halftime lead in Redcliffe on Saturday.
The carnage continued in the second half as the fifth-placed Dolphins conceded 50 points at Kayo Stadium for a second time this season.
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Cronulla, who scored 50-plus for the first time against a Queensland-based team in Queensland, thrived on the back of a power game by their forwards to silence the sea of red in an 80-minute feeding frenzy.
Sharks half Nicho Hynes scored the most points in history by a Cronulla player with 30, including two tries and 11 goals.
There were concerns for Queensland and Dolphins forward Max Plath who left the field in the 48th minute with an ankle injury after a hip-drop style tackle by Cameron McInnes, which may come under scrutiny from the match review committee.
The Dolphins, kept to zero for the first time in their history, were embarrassing in a 52-18 loss to Manly at their spiritual home in Round 5.
They had turned their season around since that shocker, but the display against the Sharks was a huge disappointment in front of the Redcliffe faithful.
“I am shocked. People talking about them being a possible premiership threat, it is going up in smoke right here,” NRL great and The Agenda Setters panellist Luke Keary said.
The Dolphins will still be without co-captain and star half Isaiya Katoa (arm) for at least next Sunday’s home clash with North Queensland.
His absence is notable with replacement Brad Schneider lacking the creativity of an elite playmaker.
Schneider was not to blame for the loss as his teammates made errors and missed tackles with regularity.
Dolphins prop Thomas Flegler lost the ball over the tryline at one end and in the next sequence Sharks front-rower Oregon Kaufusi crashed over in his 150th NRL match.
Trindall has all the tricks in his bag and a crafty grubber set up centre KL Iro for the visitors’ second.
Winger Sione Katoa notched a third, this time courtesy of a Will Kennedy grubber.
Trindall was the provider for winger Ronaldo Mulitalo with a loopy cutout pass that soared over the heads of two Cronulla attackers and two helpless Dolphins defenders.
Trindall and Hynes combined to send Iro over for his second to reassert the Sharks’ dominance after the break.
Jesse Ramien rumbled through terrible Dolphins defence, Trindall scored one of his own, Hynes touched down and Katoa got his second.
Cronulla prop Tom Hazleton burst through to bring up 50 points and Hynes notched his second to take it to 60.
Trindall made two try-saving tackles in the second half on Dolphins winger Jamayne Isaako to cap a brilliant match.
