Ben Hunt has spent the week in the headlines but it was opposite number Nicho Hynes who stole the show as Cronulla eased to a 52-16 NRL thrashing of beleaguered St George Illawarra.
All eyes were on Hunt in his first game since the Dragons rejected his mid-season move to the Broncos, with the Dragons pursuing an upset of their local rivals on Thursday night.
Kept quiet for the majority of the game at Shark Park, the halfback must've felt every bit of 945km away from Brisbane as the Dragons conceded more points than in any previous game against Cronulla.
Hunt ran the line that led to the Dragons' second try but went missing in the second half as Cronulla piled the points on with five unanswered tries.
The Dragons refused to blame the hefty defeat on the week that was.
"It hasn't really been spoken about at the club," Hunt said.
"We had a really good captain's run, good meetings, we prepared really well. I was feeling pretty confident coming into tonight.
"We need to come together as a group and fight harder than we have the last two weeks.
"You can't shy away from it."
Interim coach Ryan Carr insisted the Dragons had moved on from Hunt's failed bid to secure a release following the club's recent coaching upheaval.
"It's got nothing to do with Ben," Carr said.
"He's here with us, he's part of our team, he's going to continue to be that for the rest of this year and that's all we can focus on."
Hynes, meanwhile, continued his upward trajectory since being dropped from the NSW State of Origin side and was instrumental in establishing a half-time lead that Cronulla never surrendered.
"I thought (five-eighth Matt) Moylan was pretty strong, too. They work well together," said Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon.
"Nicho was a result of the team performance.
"Everyone else did their jobs and it allowed him to do the things he needs to do."
The Sharks could finish the weekend as high as second on the ladder, while the Dragons continue to languish in last place, yet to win away from home in 2023.
The Dragons were up for the fight early and made the most of a Sharks error to cross through Mikaele Ravalawa in their first set.
But as was the case in last week's loss to the Warriors, their left edge defence was a major source of weakness - three of Cronulla's four first-half tries came down that edge, with two more following in the second half.
Hynes hit an open hole to go through untouched and then sent Briton Nikora over with the same play, while Jesse Ramien had no competition in the air as he brought down a Matt Moylan kick to score.
Hynes' inside ball gave towering prop Tom Hazelton his second try in as many games, much to the delight of the Cronulla crowd that is fast considering him a favourite.
Dragons fullback Tyrell Sloan scored a contender for try of the year after the break when his kick return turned into a 90-metre dash in which he beat six defenders and dived over.
But that was as close as Saints came to snatching the lead back, winger Ronaldo Mulitalo crossing for a double and Nikora again running the perfect line as the Sharks weaponised the edges for a big victory.
"I thought the scoreboard flattered us," said Fitzgibbon.
"They were stronger than that in a lot of ways, in the physical nature of the game.
"They really took it to us early."
The Sharks lost prop Braden Hamlin-Uele at half-time to a rib injury he suffered in the first hit-up of the game.
