Cronulla coach Ricky Stuart has warned Sharks fans not to get carried away with the club's position among the NRL ladder leaders and declared his side still off the pace with the competition's elite.

The Sharks' 24-8 win over the New Zealand Warriors last night extended their winning streak to three and ensured they remain locked in the competition lead with Manly, Melbourne, Sydney Roosters and Gold Coast on 20 points.

"It's stupid for anybody from within our camp to think we're sitting comfortable because we're not," said Stuart.

"The competition is so compressed and a lot of these bottom teams are just a win away from us. Where we are on the table at the moment is not as attractive as it really looks.

"We haven't done anything yet, we only look at next week. We're not a footy team that can look too far forward than our next game."

Stuart knows it would be foolish to let the Sharks' run of wins mask the cracks within his side.

Cronulla's attack bordered on inept at times against the Warriors, with a woeful completion rate and schoolboy errors the type of mistakes that would have been punished by stronger opposition.

Twice the Sharks scored a try only to cough up possession immediately from the kick-off, but only once were they made to pay for their mistakes.

"We're making things too hard for ourselves, we've got to give ourselves a leg up," lamented Stuart.

"That is the part of our football we have to try and eliminate because it is just hurting us. When we play against the big teams, the Roosters, Melbourne, Manly and those teams, they will punish you for those types of errors.

"If we think we're going to do anything then we've still got to keep working hard at what we're doing."

Skipper Paul Gallen is confident the Sharks won't rest on their laurels this year, having learnt from last year's capitulation at this point of the season when a seven-match losing streak cost them a place in the finals.

"We're a more mature team this year," said Gallen.

"We're a lot fresher this time of year than we were last year and we're obviously winning the tight games better than we were last year.

"We just have to keep improving on everything we're doing. We scored two tries (against the Warriors) and gave them the ball back off the kick-off.

"Things like that we have got to get better at. If we do that then hopefully we will be competing at the end of the year."

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