The drought-breaking 2016 premiership is the bar, but Sunday's victory over Canberra will go down as one of Cronulla's bravest in recent memory.
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Coach Shane Flanagan heaped praise on his wounded team to overcome a deficit on the road to claim a fourth straight win.
If already missing prime movers Josh Dugan, Luke Lewis, Wade Graham and Paul Gallen wasn't enough, Andrew Fifita barely trained in the lead-up to the match.
The stand-in captain has been struggling with knee bone-bruising, but he played all 80 minutes to set the standard for his team in a coming-of-age performance as a leader.
Fifita ensured Valentine Holmes, James Segeyaro and first-gamer Jack Williams all lifted to reel in the Raiders' 16-8 halftime lead.
"It was definitely the bravest win of the year for sure," Flanagan said.
"We were struggling just to get a team to come down, to tell you the truth (because of injuries).
"There might be a bit of footage - I told the cameraman not to film him when he was warming up - but he (Fifita) looked like me warming up.
"He did a really good job to get to the game at all and it'll take a couple of weeks for that bone bruising to go away."
After slipping to a 2-4 record, the Sharks are a game clear inside the top-eight ahead of hosting 13th-placed Canterbury on Sunday.
He was a late withdrawal against the Raiders, but 310-game veteran Gallen is almost certain to face the Bulldogs.
Lewis, Dugan and Graham are at least another week away from returning.
Australian Associated Press