The Sharks crushed the Rabbitohs 26-4 at Toyota Stadium in Round 17 last year, with both sides missing their State of Origin stars.
Cronulla raced to a 20-nil lead at the halftime break courtesy of four tries (to Luke Douglas, Colin Best, Chad Townsend and Matthew Wright) and five unanswered line-breaks.
Souths threw caution to the wind in the second half and may have had more success bridging the deficit had they completed their sets in possession better than their 65 per cent success rate in the second 40. They outpointed their opposition in line-breaks (five to four) but a massive nine errors plagued their executions.
The Sharks were best served by fullback Nathan Gardner (184 metres and six tackle busts) and prop Douglas (139 metres, eight tackle busts). Souths’ best was fullback Rhys Wesser who carved out 203 metres of territory.