Nicho Hynes has bounced back from his NSW axing by inspiring the Sharks to a 48-10 NRL defeat of a woeful Canterbury, who sorely missed their own halfback Matt Burton.
Hynes lost his spot for the must-win second State of Origin game after a disappointing showing in the Sharks' last start but in his first game since, he triggered the onslaught of points that ended Sunday's contest by half-time.
On his 27th birthday, Hynes was closer to his Dally M Medal-winning best, finishing with a game-high 222 run metres and two try assists at Shark Park.
After they fell to Melbourne by 44 points last week, the win reasserts the Sharks' top-eight credentials.
They are now only outside the top four on points differential, while the Bulldogs fall to 16th to finish the weekend with the worst for-and-against (-154) in the league.
Hynes looked in for another tough night when he booted a kick out on the full and then threw a forward pass inside the first 10 minutes.
But the Sharks captain dusted himself off by cleaning up a Kyle Flanagan kick and tearing away on a line break that led to the Sharks' first try.
Their second came when Hynes switched angles close to the line and sent a short ball to prop Braden Hamlin-Uele, who crossed for his first try of 2023.
Cronulla never looked back from there, continuing to exploit the Bulldogs' leaky goal-line defence.
The Sharks scored three more tries when their middle forwards burrowed over at close range, with hooker Blayke Brailey marshalling the centre of the park superbly.
Disconcertingly for Canterbury coach Cameron Ciraldo, Cronulla's points usually came after avoidable Bulldog mishaps.
Cult hero Tom Hazelton crashed over for his first NRL try directly after Paul Alamoti conceded a penalty for dragging a player into touch, while a Reed Mahoney knock-on from dummy-half gave Cameron McInnes the field position to score.
Hynes added another try assist in the second half, throwing a beautiful flat ball to 100-gamer Briton Nikora as the Sharks piled the points on.
In the absence of NSW's 18th man Burton, Ciraldo recalled Kyle Flanagan for his first NRL game in two months.
The halfback scored a try down the short-side from dummy half in the first half but did not have Burton's dynamism with the boot and there was little he could do with the platform laid by his forwards.
Origin prop Tevita Pangai Jr ran the ball only twice in the first half and no Bulldogs forward surpassed 80-run metres.
Bulldogs winger Braidon Burns was placed on report for a crusher tackle on Jesse Ramien and could face scrutiny from the match review committee.
