Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan has denied their NRL premiership defence is dead in the water but did accuse his side of turning in their worst performance in 12 months.
The Sharks are 1-2 after being shocked by neighbours St George Illawarra at Southern Cross Group Stadium on Sunday and while Flanagan is far from reaching for the panic button, their performance in the 16-10 defeat left him pulling out his hair in frustration.
Their night was summed up when prop Andrew Fifita shoved Josh McCrone's head in a tackle, giving away a costly penalty while in possession just 20m out from his own goal line.
A 9-3 penalty count and repeated simple errors led Flanagan to label it their worst performance since their loss to Manly in the corresponding round last year.
"We had momentum, we gave penalties away at the end of our set and marched them up field a couple of times," Flanagan said.
"Penalties in possession - it's not good enough. It's our worst performance since round three last year when we played Manly up at Brookvale.
"We gave them five seven-tackle sets, we kicked out on the full, we took all the energy out of us in the first half."
Flanagan's men established Shark Park as a fortress last year, losing just one match on home soil, but have already suffered two losses there this year just three weeks in.
There had been promising signs in their season-opening loss to Brisbane and 42-16 rout of Canberra in round two.
Flanagan said the Sharks were their own worst enemies against the Dragons but refused to acknowledge they were in a post-premiership slump.
"I just point out how we played last week," Flanagan said when asked whether they were in a rut.
"That's how I'll answer that one. Canberra won today (against Wests Tigers) and they're a fair footy team.
"How we played last week, we blew one off the better teams in the competition away.
"We like where we're at but we need to prove we're not a spent force."
