The Sea Eagles have capitulated with a home final on the line to be thrashed by the Sharks 40-20 at a sold-out Brookvale Oval.

Manly had everything to play for – a sixth-placed finish that would see them return to Brookvale next weekend – but they folded like a deck chair.

It means they’ll now face the Bulldogs in their elimination final next Saturday in front of an expected 60,000 fans at Accor Stadium.

Cronulla had nothing to play for on Sunday as they couldn’t move from fourth on the ladder, but you wouldn’t have known it and their attack looked red hot.

Craig Fitzgibbon’s men are looking in sizzling form on the eve of finals as they look to break their September dry spell which dates back to 2018.

Cronulla has delivered an estimated $1 million bonus to the NRL after Sunday’s 40-20 defeat of Manly at Brookvale Oval.

The result means Canterbury will host a home final instead of Manly.

The extra 35,000 to 40,000 fans who will turn up at Accor next weekend to watch the two teams play will bank the NRL much more than a sold out 17,000 crowd on the northern beaches.

The Cronulla victory wasn’t just good news for the game’s governing body, but for Sharks fans.

Going to Brookvale Oval to win is a tough task and it was a good warm-up for next weekend’s qualifying final against the Storm in Melbourne.

Despite Sunday’s professional performance in front of 17,384, the Sharks will still be flying under the radar.

Cronulla opened the scoring in the fourth minute when Nicho Hynes looked up and saw an overlap.

The Sharks just let it sing across the backline for a simple try in the corner to Sione Katoa.

One of the only bright moments from Manly came in the 11th minute after a step, dummy and swerve by Tolutau Koula got him in behind the Cronulla line and his flick pass to Tommy Talau to score was the cherry on top.

“This is a very good move to set up Talou,” Fox Sports commentator Cooper Cronk said.

But the Sharks won the day with a good team performance.

The Sharks backrowers Briton Nikora and Teig Wilton were damaging all game.

Nikora bagged a second half double and had three offloads and two line breaks.

Wilton also made two-line breaks but was put on report for a hip drop tackle in the opening minutes and will have a nervous wait in the coming days.

Sharks back Jesse Ramien was put on report for a high shot on Karl Lawton in the 55th minute.

Fans were stunned that he wasn’t sin-binned for the tackle.

It was a poor performance by Manly considering a win would’ve guaranteed them a home final next weekend.

They had no excuses however.

They completed better and had more ball down the Sharks end of the field.

The biggest issue was they missed 41 tackles compared to just 16 by the Sharks.

CHERRY GUESSING

For all his greatness as a ball-player, could Manly captain Daly Cherry-Evans be a liability on the defensive side of the ball this finals series?

Cherry-Evans comes up and out of the defensive line so much and it bit him on the bum in the 22nd minute when Ronaldo Mulitalo scored.

He came up out of the line, got no-one, and it forced his outside backs to come in which freed up the Cronulla winger to score.

The tactic of rushing up on your own is a guess and hope one.

The good playmakers can expose it given enough chances.