CRONULLA let themselves down in the area that is usually their strength and source of pride - defence - against the Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium.

Sure, it was a messy game played in poor weather and there was some dropped ball, but if the Sharks are fair dinkum they won't just write off this loss as one of those nights. They will launch a closer examination of where they went wrong, because their defence will have to be outstanding if they are to achieve anything in the finals.

There is no shame in losing to the Warriors at the moment, particularly in Auckland, where Melbourne and Brisbane have both fallen victim recently. And the three tries Cronulla conceded hardly represent an avalanche.

But the Sharks are going to need their defence to be as effective as possible more than any other side in the finals, because they don't score many points.

The first try to the Warriors came when Jerome Ropati slipped between the two widest defenders on Cronulla's right. Ropati then had to apply only a mild fend to the inside man to get into the clear. The second came when Manu Vatuvei crashed over from close range out wide. Yes, Vatuvei is a big man, but he was that bit more determined than the defence.

The third came when the Warriors were deep in attack and Lance Hohaia decided to have a run at the line. He went through a flimsy, grabbing tackle and his momentum was too much for a couple of other defenders to stop. Hohaia's try, followed by a Michael Witt conversion, put the game out of Cronulla's reach at 18-4 and that was how it finished.

Cronulla's loss in Auckland was different to those suffered by the Storm and Broncos. Those teams were both in the game until the end, before losing 8-6 and 16-12, respectively. The Sharks couldn't do enough in attack to hang in there with the Warriors.

Cronulla have done a great job to win the majority of their close games this season, but that constant grind has to take a toll. Maybe that was partly the case against the Warriors. Through the middle third of the season, the Sharks took a bit of pressure off themselves by coming up with a few more points, but their output has again decreased on approach to the finals.

Only once in their past six games have the Sharks reached 20 points - when they beat South Sydney 28-14. In the other four matches they tallied modest totals: Manly (six points), Newcastle (16), Brisbane (12) and St George Illawarra (13). They still managed to beat the Knights and Dragons, but the tale of those figures is that if your defence is reasonable and you can come up with three tries, you will probably win.

Cronulla must score more points if they want to make a noise in September.

Penrith's big win over the Bulldogs at CUA Stadium was to be expected - even allowing for the fact the Panthers were thrashed 74-12 by Canberra in the previous round. That is how bad the Bulldogs are going. The Panthers won 52-16, but we won't really know whether they have got what it takes to make the finals until they play the Storm at home next Monday.

Gold Coast are still alive in the finals race as well, thanks largely to Scott Prince's return from a broken arm giving them much-needed direction in their 26-20 win over North Queensland at Dairy Farmers Stadium.