Luke Keary has laid on a masterclass to lead the Sydney Roosters to a 30-16 NRL thumping of fellow top-four fancies Cronulla.
While the premiers were often sloppy, they ran out convincing winners thanks to some moments of brilliance, particularly from Keary who led the rout with three try assists, at PointsBet Stadium on Saturday night.
The Roosters turned the screws in an 11-minute period either side of halftime during which they ran in four tries.
The Sharks fear they have lost Andrew Fifita to a hamstring injury, compounding their injury crisis.
The Sharks lost skipper Paul Gallen (ribs) on game day, on top of the absence of Matt Moylan (hamstring), Aaron Woods (foot) and Wade Graham (knee).
The Chooks' victory ensures their grand final rematch with Melbourne next Friday will double as a blockbuster top-of-the-table clash.
The Roosters (68 per cent completion, 14 errors) and Sharks (66 per cent, 16 errors) were both poor with the ball but Trent Robinson's side won it with some moments of class.
After they led 6-0 late in the first half, they put on three tries, all on the back of Sharks errors to take the game out of the home side's hands.
The Roosters went 12-0 up on the stroke of halftime after they punished Shaun Johnson for a horrible lapse in judgment.
With a minute on the clock, the Sharks five-eighth elected to put in a chip which cheaply handed over possession.
With the last play of the half Keary landed a kick on a dime for Latrell Mitchell, who ran 60 metres to score as the hooter sounded.
The Sharks blew a golden chance to claw one back in the first minute of the second stanza when Briton Nikora broke open the defence and Bronson Xerri dropped it cold.
From the next set, Mitchell spun out of a couple of tackles and sent James Tedesco over.
And when the Sharks kicked it dead on the full from the restart, Boyd Cordner crashed over a minute later.
The Roosters effectively sealed the result when Joey Manu produced a magical flick pass for Matt Ikuvalu who simultaneously defied gravity and some desperation cover defence to plant it in the corner to make it 30-0.
The Sharks ran in three consolation tries to Josh Morris, Shaun Johnson and Jack Williams to lend some credibility to the scoreline.
"We were playing some high-end, high-quality plays and periods and then thought we were playing some poor parts," Robinson said.
"I would have said there was 40 minutes of high-end footy there and 40 minutes of average footy from us.
"It's mixed emotions."
Sharks coach John Morris said his side was undone in the periods either side of halftime.
"We got absolutely blown off the park in eight minutes of footy and that's including the last play of the first half," Morris said.
"I said to the boys after the game it was a few schoolboy errors that put some pressure on us, undone all our hard work in the first half."
