Wests Tigers coach Benji Marshall has apologised to the club's fans after his side was belted 58-6 by the Cronulla Sharks.
The Sharks ran in 10 tries as winger Ronaldo Mulitalo scored a hat-trick, including a length-of-the-field effort which was one of the tries of the season.
The Tigers were locked at 6-6 early in the first half before conceding 52 unanswered points.
"I've just got to apologise to our fans. When you take the field, you've got to choose the right attitude and tonight [Cronulla] ran harder and tackled way harder than us," Marshall said during his post-match press conference.
"There's no one in our team who can say they played good … Most games we're in there competing to the death and today we weren't there."
In their first outing since halfback Nicho Hynes was ruled out for eight weeks with an ankle injury, the Sharks showed a ruthless edge that has been missing over their previous run of three straight losses.
The makeshift halves pairing of Braydon Trindall and Daniel Atkinson impressed on Friday as winger Ronaldo Mulitalo bagged his first NRL hat-trick in front of a 10,912 crowd at Shark Park.
The Tigers threatened briefly in the first half but a 17th-minute sin-binning to Api Koroisau was the catalyst for Cronulla's 10-try rout.
Koroisau failed to finish the second half with a suspected calf injury.
In-demand Tigers prop Stefano Utoikamanu once again struggled to fire for Benji Marshall's side, clocking up just 75 run metres and missing four tackles in another underwhelming showing.
The Tigers remain last on the NRL ladder and have conceded 138 points in their last three games, with Marshall's men getting off to the worst possible start when Kayal Iro busted over inside two minutes.
Solomona Faataape hit back but then the Sharks began to show their quality when Mulitalo scorched upfield from deep inside his half and then finished in the corner on the next set.
Koroisau was sin-binned as the Sharks made another break and the Tigers hooker jumped out at marker to slap the ball loose.
Referee Adam Gee claimed Tigers captain Koroisau was deliberately not square at marker and sent him to the sin bin for a professional foul, Sione Katoa going in soon after.
Back to 13, the Tigers knocked at Cronulla's line for three straight sets as half-time approached.
But their attack was rudderless and Jesse Ramien picked off an Aiden Sezer pass with Katoa finishing on the same set to give the home side a 24-6 half-time lead.
From there everything went bad to worse for the visitors with Koroisau, Utoikamanu and back-rower Alex Seyfarth all failing to finish the game.
Cronulla ran in six second-half tries, Mulitalo bagging two of them as Briton Nikora, Braden Hamlin-Uele and Trindall also crossed.
Look back at all the news and NRL action from our live blog below.
Cronulla fans can go to bed happy with a 52-point win at home.
For Tigers fans, they at least have an apology from their coach.
This is where we will end the live coverage of Friday night NRL.
ABC Sport will return tomorrow for Saturday rugby league live coverage.
I hope you join us then.
Goodnight.
Wests coach Benji Marshall says he cannot pinpoint why his side was poor this evening.
He says this is the first time in 2024 he has seen the side with such a poor attitude.
"There's no one in our team who can say they played good," he says.
"It's the first time we've had that attitude all year.
"Most games we're in there competing to the death and today we weren't there."
Wests Tigers coach Benji Marshall is fronting the media after his side was thrashed 58-6 by the Cronulla Sharks.
"I've just got to apologise to our fans, When you take the field, you've got to choose the right attitude and tonight [Cronulla] ran harder and tackled way harder than us."
Braydon Trindall is thrilled the Sharks are back in the winner's column.
"That was awesome...we needed that."
Daniel Atkinson has been a Mr Fix-it for the Sharks in 2024.
Tonight he was five-eighth for Cronulla and played well.
"When you get the opportunity to play NRL you don't really care what position you play," he tells ABC Sport.
Cronulla are back to winning ways with a thumping 58-6 win over Wests Tigers, who are sweating on the fitness of their captain who limped off in the second half.
Sharks winger Ronaldo Mulitalo scored a hat-trick, including a length-of-the-field effort which was one of the tries of the season.
Wests' defence was left clutching at thin air too often in Cronulla, as the Sharks scored 10 tries.
Braydon Trindall makes it 10 tries for Cronulla.
The halfback muscled his way through the Tigers' goal line defence.
It sums up a horrid night for the Tigers.
Jesse Ramien has crossed over for Cronulla's ninth try of the night.
The 50-point barrier has been breached.
It was a simple play through the hands to the right edge, and Ramien puts on a fend and crosses the line.
The Tigers cannot catch a break tonight.
Their captain Api Koroisau has just limped from the field.
ABC Sport sideline eye John Giibs says it is a calf issue for Api.
Too easy for the Sharks.
Again they are on the attack close to the try line, and five-eighth Braydon Trindall throws a great pass to Briton Nikora who is running like a train and goes through weak defence to score the eighth try of the night for Cronulla.
Oh bad news for the Sharks.
Jesse Colquhoun is in pain and grabbing at his knee.
He had the ball, but it does not look like the injury has anything to do with the tackle.
Jesse was hardly touched when it appeared the injury was sustained.
Hopefully, it is not a long-term problem.
The Sharks have scored the try of the night, and it is a third for Ronaldo Mulitalo.
Fullback Will Kennedy takes a kick and passes wide to Mulitalo.
The speedster sees Tigers' forward John Batman and steps past him and is away.
He passes inside to Braydon Trindall, who then passes back to his winger to finish off the try.
The Sharks are in again as Braden Hamlin-Uele scores his first of the season.
Cronulla are making metres with ease, and the Tigers do not look like they can stop them.
Close to the line on the final play of the set, Hamlin-Uele ran hard and fast, took a crash ball, and barged over the line.
"Things are grim now for the Wests Tigers," John Gibbs says on the ABC Sport call.
Ronaldo Mulitalo, like his fellow Sharks winger, has a double.
The Sharks got a penalty deep in Tiger-territory, and it ended with Mulitalo diving into the left corner for the try.
In more bad news for the Tigers, Alex Seyfarth is out for the rest of the game after a nasty head knock with a teammate.
Will the Sharks carry on and win, or can the Tigers mount a comeback?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments section.
Josh Hannay was one of the candidates to take the vacant position at Parramatta for 2025, but the Marrons and Cronulla assistant missed out.
The former Queensland State of Origin representative told ABC Sport he'll bide his time for the right opportunity again.
"The process was a very fair one, I enjoyed the process. Ultimately it came down to me and Jason (Ryles) and by all reports there was nothing between the two of us and they had to make a call and went with Rylesy," Hannay said.
"I completely understand their decision. He's ready, he's done an amazing apprenticeship, he deserves his crack. I hope, and I've got no doubt that he'll go on and do a really good job of it.
"It's important for aspiring head coaches to continue to be given opportunities as opposed to the recycling of tried and tested head coaches. He's got my full support and I hope he goes great.
"I see myself as incredibly lucky. I get to work here with the Maroons and a great club in Cronulla Sharks who are in contention for top four so I'm incredibly lucky. I'm not someone who's desperate for another job because I've got two wonderful jobs.
"Another opportunity will present in the future, that's the nature of what we do, and when that opportunity presents, I'll sum it up, I'll weigh it up and if it feels right I'll apply for it, and if it doesn't I'll continue to be really happy with what I do with Queensland and the Cronulla Sharks."
Anything that could go wrong, did go wrong for the Tigers in the first half.
They were beaten to the punch early but got back level at 6-all.
They then conceded 18 points, had their captain sent to the sin-bin, and never looked like scoring again.
Coach Benji Marshall will need an inspirational talk to get his side back into this contest.
Sione Katoa has a second try of the game following an intercept from Jesse Ramien.
Wests had multiple sets at the Sharks try line, but never truly looked like scoring.
The halfback Aidan Sezer throws the intercept to Ramien who runs 80 metres but is chased down.
Katoa picks the ball up from dummy-half and scores with just one Tiger onside.
Api Koroisau is back on the field, and he is luck he returns with a deficit of just 12 points.
Jesse Ramien has dropped the final pass with no one between him and the try line. In fairness, the pass was behind him and up around his shoulder.
Poor execution.
Sione Katoa has his first try of the night.
Wests are their own worst enemy.
They concede a penalty to give the Sharks great field position.
Then a penalty and a six-again restart are conceded on consecutive fifth tackles.
The Sharks were always going to score with so many tackles close to the line, and it was Katoa who walked into the right corner.
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