Updated July 07, 2019 18:33:33

Photo: Brisbane's Tevita Pangai Junior (left) holds up Cronulla's Aaron Woods in a tackle. (AAP: Craig Golding)

A youthful Broncos line-up has overcome a whirlwind hat-trick of tries to Cronulla's Josh Morris to record a dramatic 24-22 win away to the Sharks on Sunday.

Broncos five-eighth Jake Turpin swooped on a great Tevita Pangai Junior offload to level the scores with just over five minutes left and Kotoni Staggs kicked the conversion.

The Sharks scored five tries to four but Chad Townsend missed four kicks at goal, while Staggs nailed all of his conversion attempts.

Cronulla lost captain Paul Gallen and back Matt Moylan to injuries during the match.

The Broncos snapped a three-match losing streak and increased the Sharks' run of defeats to three.

Morris bagged his first hat-trick since his Bulldogs days in 2012, notching all three in a 10-minute spell, as the Sharks poured on 14 unanswered points in the third quarter to lead 22-12 after trailing 12-8 at half-time.

But Payne Haas crashed over for a try on the hour for the Broncos and the injury-hit Sharks could not regain the momentum.

An incident involving Sharks replacement Kyle Flanagan and Brisbane prop Matt Lodge looks likely to attract post-match scrutiny.

Flanagan appeared to catch Lodge with a knee to the head and the Bronco lashed out with his foot.

The early buzz centred around 18-year-old Broncos winger and debutant Xavier Coates, who flew above Morris to score a spectacular opening try of the match.

He almost had another later in the half after another aerial duel with Morris, but was ruled to have knocked on.

AAP/ABC

Topics: sport, rugby-league, nrl, cronulla-2230, brisbane-4000

First posted July 07, 2019 15:36:19