Captain Blayke Brailey hopes Cronulla's recent run of form can dispel the long-running narrative that the Sharks are downhill runners who struggle to ice tight games.
The fourth-placed Sharks travel to face a freefalling Manly side on Sunday, aiming to continue an impressive stretch - Craig Fitzgibbon's men have won seven of their past eight - and keep their hopes of a top-two finish alive.
The Sharks made the NRL sit up and take notice with their 66-0 thrashing of the Dolphins a fortnight ago, but it is recent two-point wins over fellow top-four hopefuls from which Brailey draws the most pride.
Cronulla held off sixth-placed Newcastle in a 20-18 win last week and defeated the Warriors last month in a 10-8 victory that underlined the Sharks' ability to go toe to toe with would-be premiership contenders.
"We don't want to get too ahead of ourselves because we know that once you do that in the NRL, you come down to earth pretty quickly," Brailey said.
"There's been some good performances against some top-eight sides, and I know the narrative around us has probably been that we can't beat top-eight sides for the last few years.
"It's good to see we can put some consistent games together against some really good sides, and with some tough ones coming up so hopefully we can keep backing that up.
"Those (narrow) games we take a lot more from than winning 66-0 and I think we've grown a lot of confidence and belief from that (Warriors) game.
The Sharks are 4-6 against side's currently in the top eight.
After Sunday's clash with Manly, Cronulla face Souths before rounding out their regular season with five games against sides outside of the finals.
Except for Toby Rudolf, Fitzgibbon's side are at full strength and should results fall in their favour there's a real chance they could surge into a top-two spot and net a home qualifying final.
"We've got a really steady roster and we're playing consistent games," Brailey said.
"We know what our footy looks like, and the identity we want to be playing with.
"The home ground advantage is always tough and I know when we play at home, we love playing here in front of our fans."
