Cronulla's season came to an end on Saturday night as they were given a lesson in how to be clinical by the Penrith Panthers.
Despite being outplayed for much of the game, a Sione Katoa try in the second half cut the score to 10-6, before three Penrith tries blew the score out to 26-6 in the preliminary final.
The big difference came in the halves, where Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai put on a clinic, whilst Nicho Hynes and Braydon Trindall struggled to assert themselves on the game in wet conditions.
Hynes was playing in his 100th NRL game, but it was one to forget as he and his side were outplayed by the experienced Panthers.
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Hynes reflects on disappointing milestone game
Rightly or wrongly, there is lots of scrutiny on Hynes as a former Dally M Medal winner and a halfback expected to lead his team.
He has had an up and down season of injuries and poor form, which has seen him sidelined as the main playmaking half, with Trindall taking on the responsibility in a good win in last week's semi-final.
But Hynes' perceived struggles in big games were not quietened, as he had moments to forget, including a giveaway just after the Sharks scored their try where Hynes forced a pass that led to a knock-on and Penrith possession
"I should have just held it and got to a kick," Hynes reflected , [it] put us under a bit of pressure.
"It's definitely not the result we wanted. You just can't give a quality team like [Penrith] so much ball - and we gave them a lot of the ball - it's just not good enough."
In the aftermath of the tough defeat, Hynes found it tough to properly reflect and be proud of playing a century of NRL games.
"It's hard to reflect and be proud of myself right now after a loss like that," Hynes said.
"But I just wanted to play one NRL game, and to play 100 now [is special].
"I've got to go work hard in the offseason, the preseason so I can hopefully try to play 100 more."
