The relative positions on the ladder of Cronulla and the Gold Coast — 3rd and 15th — would suggest today’s first match will be a straightforward one for the Sharks, but that’s not how 2024 has gone for either side.

Cronulla has won just one of its past five games and is coming into this one off a heartbreaking golden-point loss to the Bulldogs, while the Titans are 2-3 in their last five and 4-4 in their last eight, including a massive 66-6 win over the Warriors in their last start.

Now, the Titans are without AJ Brimson and Jayden Campbell for this one, but they’ve shown multiple times they don’t care who’s on the park for them.

Cronulla has been slipping in the past month and a bit since being on top of the table, so this is an opportunity to simply beat a team it’s expected to beat to stabilise things a bit.