Manly powered to the top of the ladder and consigned arch-rivals Cronulla to a dubious place in premiership history at Shark Park on Saturday night.
The Sea Eagles' 26-0 victory left the beleaguered Sharks as the first team in history to be kept scoreless for three successive games.
The toothless Sharks have gone precisely four-and-a-half hours of game time without posting a point.
Their last points came five weeks ago in a 22-20 home loss to the Wests Tigers.
Since then, South Sydney (18-0), St George-Illawarra (30-0) and Manly have shut the Sharks out.
Even the return of seven first-graders, including captain Paul Gallen, fellow State of Origin-winner Luke Lewis and playmaker Todd Carney, could not help the Sharks as the Sea Eagles piled on five unanswered tries.
Full-back Brett Stewart, centre Steve Matai and skipper Jamie Lyon all crossed to give Manly a 16-0 lead at the break before replacement Tom Symonds bagged two in two minutes in the second half as a series of Cronulla chances went begging.
Sharks fans thought the agonising wait for a four-pointer was over a minute before half-time.
Winger Sosaia Feki did well to squeeze his way over in the left-hand corner despite dancing millimetres next to the touchline in a tackle from Stewart.
Referee Gavin Morris awarded the try only for video referees Matt Cecchin and Luke Phillips to overrule him, deeming Feki lost control of the football during his one-handed put-down attempt.
Skipper Gallen was livid, remonstrating with officials as the Sharks' try-scoring drought stretched to five straight halves.
But it only worsened after the interval when interchange forward Tinirau Arona was held up over the line and Feki was denied again when Carney's ball was called forward.
Two-time grand final winners over Cronulla, Manly's shut-out was also their first over the Sharks since 1996.
The only concern for Manly was the reporting of star five-eighth Kieran Foran for a second-half high tackle on Sharks full-back Nathan Gardner.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/24289961/manly-sea-eagles-extend-cronulla-sharks-losing-streak-to-five-with-26-0-win/
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