THE field suddenly seemed a lot smaller for Canberra against Cronulla at Toyota Stadium.

The Raiders had looked as though they were playing on an open plain, with no sidelines, in some of their runaway wins at Canberra Stadium.

But this was a whole new ball game - finals football, away from home against a ferocious defensive effort and they didn't handle it.

Later, across town at Brookvale Oval, St George Illawarra coach Nathan Brown went with Ben Rogers at five-eighth, ahead of Jamie Soward, against Manly. It was a surprising decision for a game where the Dragons were going to have to come up with something special to score points against a tough defence, and it didn't work. Soward had been the team's most dangerous playmaker this season. Rogers made mistakes and couldn't get the attack rolling.

More of what happened at Brookie later, but let's get back to the Sharks.

Ever since Cronulla went a bit soft, for them, in defence against the Warriors in their 18-4 round 23 loss, they have been rock hard when it mattered. Sure, they conceded three tries in seven minutes at the end of their 28-22 win over North Queensland in round 26, but the game was over and they were thinking ahead.

They made Sydney Roosters look like they had no idea in attack when they beat them, 20-0, and then they took the roar out of Wests Tigers, 32-6.

Against the Raiders it was 36-10 to the Sharks, including a first half in which the Raiders were kept scoreless. If you're not impressed by the attitude of the Cronulla players, then you're hard to please.

The Sharks have been criticised for a lack of potency in attack, and for much of the time it had been justified, but you can't deny the fact they have been coming up with points lately. They are still far from being the most dynamic team around, but they have found a way of scoring tries that works for them and in their past four games they have averaged 29 points.

Cronulla were physically relentless. They hit the ball up hard, and tackled even harder. It was an approach that looked like wearing Canberra down from the start.

On a night like that, you are reminded of just how many players the Raiders have been without this season, through injury and the sacking of halfback Todd Carney.

Canberra did a tremendous job to get this far, under the circumstances, but this was a time when they needed a full deck to pick from. By the same token, let's not forget that Cronulla have managed to keep winning despite standing down star lock Greg Bird, pending a court case. They are, as coach Ricky Stuart says, a real team.

So are Manly, who broke open their game against the Dragons in the closing stages of the first half and ran away with it in the end, to win 38-6. Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler said before the game that St George Illawarra's fantastic recent record against his side meant nothing because finals football was different, and his team went out and proved him right.

Manly, like Cronulla, were bruising, and the difference between the Sea Eagles and the Dragons was so significant that it is too big a stretch to say that had Soward played, instead of Rogers, St George Illawarra would have won. But they would have surely been much more competitive. The Dragons faded out of the game in the second half - and out of the competition. Yesterday, they were joined on the outer by the Raiders, after the Warriors upset Melbourne.