Sharks too strong - 52-16 winners.
PENALTY SHARKS - Moga hit him high and is placed on report.
Hynes converts.
WE HAVE 50! Briton Nikora crosses for his second try. Some pitiful edge defence from the Dragons there.
Moylan nearly splits them down the left.
Sharks complete their set after points.
Hynes converts.
Moylan provided an early ball to Talakai who kicked ahead and then toed it forward again and it ended up in the arms of Ronaldo Mulitalo to score!
Hynes converts - 40-16.
Sifa Talakai smashes his way through the defence isolating the small defenders to crash over. That was way too easy for the rampaging centre.
Dragons catch the ball in field of play and have to settle for drop kicking the footy from under neath the sticks.
SIX MORE SHARKS
Molo puts it down.
Hynes' early kick is well defused by Tyrell Sloan.
Sloan's pass ends up in Row Z.
Kaufusi puts it down following an attempt to quickly play the ball.
Hynes can't convert the Kennedy try.
Dragons are getting burnt on their left hand side. Will Kennedy split them, fooled the fullback by having Hynes on the inside but Kennedy is too smart to cross.
Hynes converts.
Dragons overcommit from marker and allowed the veterans in Moylan and Graham to find Mulitalo who gets it down spectacularly in the corner.
Sullivan's kick is a shocker. Brailey there to pick it up and run to half way before finding Kennedy wh ran sideways without advancing the mark.
PENALTY DRAGONS: Good decision from Drew Oultram there sees Ronaldo Mulitalo take out Lomax in the air.
Lomax converts for a 24-16 ball game.
The Dragons let multiple last tackle kicks bounce, this one paid off for them. Hunt recovered to offload to Tyrell Sloan who had the pace down the sideline to burn the Sharks defence.
Mulitalo catches the bomb but he is caught on the last tackle.
Braden Hamlin-Uele has succumb to a hip injury.
Sullivan kicks it out on the full. Sums up their night.
Hynes loses it on the last tackle! Dragons free to work it away from their own end.
Underwhelming from the Sharks in the final play.
Great kick from Hynes forces another repeat set for the Sharks.
PENALTY DRAGONS: Slow peel against Blayke Brailey. But the kick FAILS to find touch and the Sharks keep possession. Boy oh boy.
Back underway for the second 40 minutes.
Hynes converts for a 24-10 HT lead.
Hazelton crashes over off a brilliant short ball. 22-12 with a KTC.
PENALTY SHARKS - Moga inside the 10m.
SIX AGAIN - Inside 10m for Zac Lomax. This is relentless for the home side.
SIX AGAIN - Too slow against Tyrell Sloan.
Ball batted down and it'll be 6 to go for the home side.
Moga loses it into Feagai! Sharks will get the football back!
Hynes makes no mistake - 18-10 Sharks lead.
Great kick from Moylan and it's Jesse Ramien cleared for take-off as he flew through the air to score.
SET RESTART SHARKS - RUCK
Sharks try two kicks but it fails to come off for the home side. Dragons now to work it out of their own end.
Dragons complete a set after points.
Hynes converts - 12-10 lead for the home side.
Lovely short ball from Hynes sees Briton Nikora cross for the home side. Dragons players blowing up but the officials don't seem a problem on field.
SIX MORE SHARKS!
Dragons eventually complete their set post points.
Mutual Infringement - Grant Atkins was hit .
Lomax misses.
He can find his way to the line over his long NRL career. Tautau Moga has yet another try. Great ball playing from Hunt and Sloan and they link up with the veteran who reaches out to score as he beat the cover.
PENALTY DRAGONS: Spear tackle from Dale Finucane.
The early kick from Hynes was good but the bounce was away from Sione Katoa.
Lawrie forces an off-load that wasn't on and then they compound it with a set restart.
Dragons looked good but couldn't get it done in the redzone.
PENALTY DRAGONS: Referee identifies some sleepers in the ruck and it's an obstruction.
Hunt kicking early and forces the Dragons to work it out of their own end.
Mulitalo ended up going touch in-goal. So it'll be a seven tackle set.
VIDEO REF - Atkins has NO TRY claiming Ronaldo Mulitalo is HELD UP!
Sharks complete a great set post points sees the Dragons have to work it out of their own end.
Hynes converts his own try to level it up at 6-6.
Nicho Hynes bounces back for the Sharks. Simple block play saw some poor defensive reads from the Dragons which sees Nicho go through a yawning gap to score for the home side.
SIX AGAIN SHARKS - Too slow.
PENALTY SHARKS: Marker wasn't square - Atkins points out Mathew Feagai.
Cronulla looking lost at sea early here.
Dragons complete their set after points!
BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM ZAC! Lomax converts and it's 6-0.
Off the back of a Cronulla error - Jacob Liddle summed it up down a narrow blind and Mikaele Ravalawa crosses for the Dragons.
An early error from Jesse Ramien puts the Dragons on the attack! A horror start for the home side.
GAME ON! Grant Atkins gets 'Beanies for Brain Cancer Round' underway. Cronulla are running from left to right and getting first use tonight.
Blayke Brailey and Ben Murdoch-Masila playing 100 NRL games this evening.
Our match officials tonight will be wearing yellow. Grant Atkins is the referee in game 248. Drew Oultram and Jon Stone are running the lines with the man in the spotlight Chris Butler being the video referee.
Round 18 of the NRL season gets underway with a local derby. It's Cronulla Sutherland taking on St George Illawarra. Cronulla has had a solid recent record against their opposition and will be looking to rub more salt into the wound of their arch-rivals. On the team front, Cronulla are 1-17 with Connor Tracey as the 18th man. For the Dragons, Amone is OUT, and Moses Mbye is a late inclusion on the bench with Ryan Couchman substituting as the 18th man.
Referees & scorers:
Referee: Grant Atkins
Touch Judges: Jon Stone, Drew Oultram
Video Referee: Chris Butler
CRONULLA-SUTHERLAND SHARKS (52)
Tries: Nicho Hynes, Briton Nikora (2), Jesse Ramien, Thomas Hazelton, Ronaldo Mulitalo (2), William Kennedy, Siosifa Talakai
Conversions: Nicho Hynes (8/9)
ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS (16)
Tries: Mikaele Ravalawa, Tautau Moga, Tyrell Sloan
Conversions: Zac Lomax (2/3)