Sharks vice-captain Wade Graham refused to get carried away and was adamant there are still plenty of lessons to be learnt in the aftermath of his side's 25-20 win over the Gold Coast on Sunday.
Graham was ultimately unpleased by the Sharks surrendering their earlier 14-0 lead just after half-time; though admitted concussions to veteran duo James Maloney and Luke Lewis proved a good test of resilience.
"I think it's important to take lessons from it. We definitely got off to a good start and then we gifted them by letting them back into the game. They really had all the momentum at one point," Graham said.
"We were just lucky we were tough enough to come back and get the win. We have to take lessons from it, the game is so hard and teams are so good that you have to produce 80-minute performances."
"It has put us in a good spot and it's important for us to get these wins before the middle part of the season. We need to consolidate these wins before we go through Origin and bye weekends. It's up to us to keep the ball rolling," Graham added of the Sharks' 4-2 start to the year.
This time 12 months ago was a completely different story for Cronulla. Graham is buoyed by their turnaround of fortunes in 2016 – after beginning last season 0-4 – and said the camp was far more settled now they're not playing catch up.
"It's very pleasing. It's a much better place to come into when you're having wins. We put so much into each week so when we weren't getting the results it was hard," Graham said.
"We just have to keep going now. The competition is so close and we know how tough Canberra are in Canberra. They're coming into it off the back of a loss so they'll be looking to re-enter the winner's circle. It's up to us though to move forward."
Just three weeks out from the NRL's representative round, Graham was keen to reprise his role as the City Origin captain though shied away from talk over a prospective State of Origin debut.
"It's always a great experience to play for City and with other guys. It breaks up the club footy," he said.
"The NRL is such a grind week-in, week-out that it's good to get away with the City team."
