The Sydney Roosters must shut down Cronulla's rampant forward pack to end the Sharks' dominance over the Tricolours, according to captain Jake Friend.
The Roosters have lost their past six against Cronulla since 2014, but never has it been more important for them to secure a win.
The Tricolours can wrap up a spot in the NRL's top four with a victory, and keep them in third - where they will avoid a trip to Melbourne in the first week of the finals.
And Friend has identified Andrew Fifita and the Sharks pack as the most crucial component to ending Cronulla's' streak at Southern Cross Group Stadium on Saturday night.
"The Sharks forward pack are big and they get a lot of play off the back of (Fifta)," Friend said.
"It's always an area in the game that is the hardest one to control."
But while the Sharks have Fifita, the Roosters have their own firebrand in Dylan Napa who will celebrate his 100th NRL game against his State of Origin rival in Fifita.
"I"'m sure Naps will be fired up," Friend said.
"I think massive achievement for Dylan. The boys will all be looking forward to putting in a big performance for him."
Napa and Fifita are seen as the two premier forwards of the next generation, having both started for the first time for respective states this year.
The Maroons found a way to shut down Fifita in the final two games of the interstate showdown, piling three or more men into tackles each time he ran the ball to limit his impact.
At club level though, tjhe Sharks' dominance over the Roosters has seen Napa claim just one victory over Fifita in six attempts.
The big Sharks prop also showed signs of returning to form in Saturday's win over North Queensland for the Cowboys, busting through seven tackles and making the second-most metres of any Sharks forward.
And Napa said he would look to his fellow forwards to help him shut down one of the game's most destructive props.
"Stopping a pack like the Sharks is definitely not a one-man job," Napa said.
"We're going to have to be altogether there from myself to Jared Waerea-Hargreaves to Isaac Liu.
"They've got a good middle pack and we've got a good middle pack ... I can't remember a time we have beaten the Sharks."
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