Cronulla has survived a massive late fright to sneak home with a thrilling 24-22 win over Penrith at CUA Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The Sharks looked certain winners when they led 24-10 with only minutes remaining but two quick converted tries narrowed the gap and a cross-field kick that was hauled in by Luke Rooney in the dying seconds gave the hosts the chance to snatch an unlikely win.
But Rooney was pulled down near halfway as soon as he caught the ball and lost it forward as he attempted to pop an offload to Michael Jennings in support just as the full-time hooter sounded.
In the absence of New South Wales reps Paul Gallen and Greg Bird, five-eighth Brett Seymour led the visitors superbly, scoring one try, having a hand in the other four and also converting the final try, while Luke Covell grabbed a hat-trick but landed just one of his five kicks.
In the final wash-up, while Cronulla coach Ricky Stuart will be relieved to have escaped with the points, his Penrith counterpart Matthew Elliott will be ruing a completion rate of 21 from 37 compared to the opposition's 29 from 37 and a 15-7 error count.
After conceding the opening try to Michael Jennings, who ran onto a Maurice Blair grubber, the Sharks led 18-6 at the break after responding with three tries in 15 minutes and another in the shadows of half-time.
In the 14th minute a superb move from the visitors saw Covell collect a grubber from Seymour to score after Brett Kimmorley was twice involved in the play, before six minutes later another well-worked play resulted in Pomeroy diving over for 10-0.
Just before the half-hour mark and a Luke Priddis knock-on was punished by Cronulla when Seymour was put into a gap and scored himself, before he turned provider again following Matthew Bell's mistake with a long ball that put Covell in again untouched.
Sammut gave the Panthers hope with a try in the corner but couldn't convert, and they looked set to score again a minute later when Lewis made a break before Covell cleaned up.
Moments after missing a penalty, Covell out-leapt Sammut to score his third, with Seymour's conversion seemingly sealing the result, but late converted tries to Trent Waterhouse and Shane Rodney almost saw the Panthers embarrass the Sharks again.
In Round 6 at Toyota Stadium the hosts were unable to send off Lance Thompson with a win despite leading 20-10 after an hour, with late tries and a sideline conversion from Sammut levelling the scores before Sammut added a field goal in extra time to snatch the points.
Penrith Panthers 22
Tries: Jennings, Sammut, Waterhouse, Rodney
Conversions: Sammut 3
Cronulla Sharks 24
Tries: Covell 3, Pomeroy, Seymour
Conversions: Covell, Seymour
Sportal's NRL Player of the Year:
3 - Brett Seymour (Sharks)
2 - Luke Lewis (Panthers)
1 - Luke Covell (Sharks)