Premiers North Queensland hold no fears for Cronulla as the table-topping Sharks play for NRL title favouritism on Monday night.
Already the bookmakers' top two fancies for 2016 grand final glory, the Cowboys and Sharks go head to head in a genuine blockbuster at Southern Cross Group Stadium.
The stakes are huge for both sides, with Cronulla having the chance to put a six-point gap on the Cowboys heading into their round-15 bye.
"So that's four points. That'd be awesome. I reckon we can get the Cowboys here. We're on a high and all the boys are pretty confident," Sharks winger Valentine Holmes said on Thursday.
The Johnathan Thurston-led Cowboys eliminated Cronulla from last year's finals series in a 39-0 rout in Townsville before opening their premiership defence with a tough 20-14 triumph over the Sharks in a round-one return bout at 1300SMILES Stadium.
But Townsville-bred Holmes says victories over bogey sides Manly and Canterbury amid a nine-game winning streak has given the Sharks the confidence they can continue their best run in 14 years.
"One main thing we thrive on is belief in the club. Belief in the structures, belief in each other," said the competition's leading tryscorer.
"If we stick to what we know and play our best footy, I think we can get a win there.
"Probably our hardest bogey teams are actually Manly and the Bulldogs. We never usually play that good against them, but it's usually a good game against the Cowboys."
Holmes believes the Sharks' new-found ability to never panic is what sets the class of 2016 apart from Cronulla outfits of years past.
It was that steely composure that helped the Sharks clinch a come-from-behind win over the Bulldogs with a last-minute try to Ricky Leutele on Monday night.
"We knew in the last five minutes when we had two more sets that we could capitalise there and finish," Holmes said.
"That's what we stuck to."
Victory over the Cowboys would leave the Sharks one win shy of their club-record winning streak of 11, set in 2002 and further underline their title credentials.
But Holmes says he and many of other excelling teammates are too young to feel the weight of history as the Sharks look to break their infamous 50-year premiership drought.
"We don't really feel the pressure," he said.
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