The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have suffered a 38-16 loss to the Cronulla Sharks at Suncorp Stadium during Magic Round.
It was a big occasion for the Club with Captain Stephen Crichton celebrating his 150th NRL appearance, while Matt Burton played his 100th game as a Bulldog.
Members and fans also got a look at generation next with Jack Underhill making his NRL debut off the bench.
The Sharks benefited from a dominant start and while the Bulldogs fought back in the second half it was too little, too late.
Cronulla got on the board first to take a 6-0 lead after Will Kennedy won a contest in the air before offloading to Brayden Trindall, who planted the ball down.
They followed that up with another try scored by Ronaldo Mulitalo in what was his first game back from injury. Nicho Hynes failed to convert from the sideline but was then able to kick a penalty goal from in front of the posts after the bunker deemed Connor Tracey’s contact on Mulitalo while attempting to save a try dangerous.
Cronulla then extended their lead to 24-0 after Will Kennedy and Hohepa Puru crossed and Hynes converted both tries.
The Bulldogs needed to score next and they did exactly that, with it coming off the back of a towering Matt Burton bomb that forced a Sharks error. The Dogs then capitalised on the prime field position and Lachlan Galvin put Jacob Preston through untouched.
Their joy was short-lived though with Cronulla going in again, this time through Hynes, to take the score to 30-6 at half time.
The Sharks added another two to the scoreboard five minutes into the second half after they were handed a contentious penalty.
Coach Cameron Ciraldo soon turned to his bench and injected 22-year-old debutant Underhill, who made an immediate impact by forcing a Sharks error.
That energy spread to his teammates and the Dogs scored next after Galvin threw a cutout pass to Crichton, who found Enari Tuala on his outside. Tuala passed back to Crichton on his inside and the milestone man scored.
But the Sharks responded with Mulitalo plucking the ball out of the air following a Hynes cross-field kick to score their only try of the second half.
The Dogs wrapped up the match with a final try in the 77th minute scored by Bronson Xerri, who slipped through two Sharks defenders to go over untouched.
Cameron Ciraldo’s men will now reset after a difficult period - which saw the team travel to Brisbane three times in the space of a month – and return home to Accor Stadium to take on the Melbourne Storm.
Cronulla Sharks 38 (Mulitalo 2, Trindall, Kennedy, Puru, Hynes tries; Hynes 7/8 goals) def Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 16 (Preston, Crichton, Xerri tries; Crichton 1/2, Burton 1/1 goals)
