Sea Eagles break hoodoo 

They did it the hard way but Manly finally brought an end to their 21-year hoodoo at Cronulla with a late Adam Cuthbertson try helping put away an injury-ravaged Sharks side 29-22.

The Sharks ran out minus 11 first team regulars but refused to give up, and they may have pulled off the most stunning of upsets had a Brett Seymour field goal gone over rather than clatter into the upright.

Instead it was the Sea Eagles who broke the 22-all deadlock when Cuthbertson, who had been saved on the bench until the 60th minute, barged over from short range before Michael Monaghan banged over a one-pointer to kill off the Sharks.

Despite the loss Sharks coach Ricky Stuart heaped praise on his young troops, particularly Seymour who returned from park football with the Engadine Dragons to almost steer his side home.

"Outside of the result, I couldn't be happier for the players," Stuart said.

"We spoke all week about this being about us ... there couldn't be a person walk off that field tonight disappointed with the effort they put in.

"We were probably two inches away from a field goal winning the game for us."

But the loss - Cronulla's fifth in a row - all but ended the home side's slim playoff hopes as the Sea Eagles kept pace with league leaders Melbourne, despite not playing anywhere near their best with skipper Matt Orford a late withdrawal due to a virus.

"It was always going to be a tough game - the mental side of things and the way it's been built up during the week," Hasler said.

"Our execution and parts of our game were down a little bit but at the end of the day we got away with the win.

"We weren't under any illusions as to how it was going to be, we knew they'd fight and claw every inch of the way."

Hasler took aim at the refereeing performance of Shayne Hayne, claiming he allowed the Sharks players to lie all over his side in the ruck, Hasler making a veiled reference to former Manly coach Bob Fulton's infamous sledge at Bill Harrigan at the same ground 20 years ago, where he threatened to run over the whistleblower with a cement truck.

"At one stage there we might have been calling for a cement mixer, but we got away without it."

The game looked like being a rout when the visitors opened up a 12-2 lead via tries to Luke Williamson and Glen Hall, but three tries either side of the break saw the upstart Sharks take a 20-12 lead.

They were engineered by makeshift halves Seymour and Henry Perenara, Seymour capping a strong game with five goals from as many attempts.

But just when the upset of the season was on the cards Brett Stewart scythed through to cut the gap to two as the Cronulla defence froze in the face of several decoy runners before a Chris Hicks try in the corner locked it up with 20 minutes remaining.