Matt Moylan finally showed why Cronulla were keen to lure him to The Shire as the prize recruit launched a one-man assault in a 48-10 NRL belting of a woeful Newcastle.
Moylan laid on six tries in what was easily his best performance since leaving Penrith - five of which came in a dizzying 14-minute spell that extended the Sharks' lead from ten to 38 points.
Whether it was long cutout passes, deft short balls, or pinpoint kicks, the former Kangaroos representative toyed with a Knights defence that had no answer to his vast array of skills.
"I thought he was outstanding. Got some shape on, contributed to a lot of tries there. So yeah, his best game this year," Sharks coach Shane Flanagan said of Moylan.
"He defended well today too I thought, made some really big tackles on their backrower over there so that was crucial. You base your game on defence and the offence will just come on the back of that."
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Six different Cronulla players finished on the scoresheet, with Valentine Holmes scoring a hat trick and right-edge partner Jesse Ramien giving his future team a taste of his potential with a double.
Only some wayward goalkicking from Chad Townsend, who converted six from ten attempts, prevented the Sharks from cracking the half-century.
The win not only extends the Sharks' streak to six, but also lifts them into the top four for the first time this season and sets up a mouth-watering clash with South Sydney next week.
In contrast, the Knights' fourth straight defeat in front of a healthy crowd of 20,913 at McDonald Jones Stadium was also arguably their worst effort of the year.
It was one-way traffic from the kickoff, beginning with Moylan's pass for Ramien in the third minute, and following up with soft tries to Holmes and Jayden Brailey inside half an hour.
Not even a Lachlan Fitzgibbon try against the run of play could halt the Sharks' momentum, with Josh Dugan and Edrick Lee scoring soft four-pointers either side of the break.
Both were set up by former Penrith captain Moylan, who then laid on more points for Luke Lewis, Holmes and Ramien in a spectacular second-half flurry.
Knights centre Nathan Ross failed to take the field in the second half after succumbing to a groin issue, while he was also put on report for tripping.
Knights coach Nathan Brown said the effort of prop Daniel Saifiti was one of two positives to come out of the match, with the other being the showing of their future centre in Ramien.
"I suppose the kid at right centre signed with us for next year, he played really good. So if we were being honest about it, that was the only other good thing to come out of it from our point of view," he said.
