Coach Craig Fitzgibbon has saluted Nicho Hynes' tenacity after the re-signed halfback dragged Cronulla back into the fight to claim a 22-12 NRL win over an ill-disciplined Sydney Roosters.
Hynes stole the show for the Sharks, breaking the second half open with a weaving run to set up Blayke Brailey's 71st minute go-ahead try at Shark Park.
The playmaker's heroics came after he inked a contract extension last week which will keep him with the Sharks until the end of 2029.
"It was about time he had a crack," Fitzgibbon joked.
"The show of faith from the club is a sign of how much we believe in him."
Cronulla were helped by the fact the Roosters continued to shoot themselves in the foot.
Trent Robinson's men gave away 14 penalties - an NRL record since the introduction of the six-again in 2020 - and had three players sent to the sinbin by Grant Atkins.
The referee sent Nat Butcher to the bin in the first half for a hip-drop tackle on Briton Nikora.
He also binned Brandon Smith (high shot) and Victor Radley (professional foul) to sit out the dying stages of the game after Brailey's try.
"I didn't feel like we lost our way after that (Brailey try)," said Robinson, who criticised the bunker for failing to award a try to Roosters forward Lindsay Collins.
"It was pretty clear from the angles that I saw that the ball was on the line.
"I thought that was a poor excuse (to support) the on-field decision. There were enough angles to say it was on the line."
Robinson's men were sloppy in the opening stages with Butcher's sin-binning allowing the Sharks to hit the lead through a Matt Moylan try.
The Roosters pegged them back with tries to Egan Butcher and Smith to go 12-8 up at the halftime break.
Sharks winger Ronaldo Mutiltalo locked the game up at 12-12 in the 45th minute and what followed was a pulsating arm wrestle.
Hynes proved the difference maker and, after making life difficult for the Roosters' back three with his kicking game, it was his decision to run which put the Sharks in the ascendancy.
Brailey's try and a late one for Nikora put the gloss on a solid victory for Fitzgibbon's men, who have begun the year with a 3-3 start and face Canterbury next week.
"The effort has been there but we've worked on those technical issues," said Fitzgibbon.
"It doesn't get fixed in a day, it's a lot of accumulative work."
