The cardiac kids of the NRL were at it again with a Brett Kimmorley field goal two minutes from time capping a remarkable 13-12 Cronulla win over local rivals St George Illawarra at Toyota Stadium.

Down 12-0 with an hour of the game gone, the Sharks looked dead and buried against a Dragons side playing out of its skin in the absence of gun duo Mark Gasnier and Jason Ryles.

But proving they'd learned a thing from last year's season of narrow losses, the home side stuck to the task, with tries to Luke Covell and Kimmorley - who scored after his grubber ricocheted off a few legs - locking it up with five minutes remaining.

The veteran halfback missed with his first attempt at the one point from 45 metres out but potted over the second to seal a crucial win.

"The try was just through effort ... we play for the full 80 minutes and we make it pretty hard for everyone," Kimmorley said.

"The first field goal was pretty ugly, the second one was nice.

"It's funny, I practiced a few yesterday so I must have had a feeling it was going to be a close game."

While relieved to sneak away with the win, which puts them in the box seat for a home final and within touch of a top two finish, Sharks coach Ricky Stuart admitted he felt for opposite Nathan Brown.

"They're tough to lose those ones, I'm sure Nathan and the boys will be very disappointed," Stuart said.

"We've had our fair share of experiences in those situations and I really credit my blokes today for their determination and courage.

"At 12-0 we didn't panic and the result was a very handy result for us."

Having come into the game staring at the prospect of perhaps challenging for the top four, the loss instead leaves the Dragons in the dogfight for places at the bottom end of the top eight.

"There was some young players that came up with some errors that were crucial and hopefully they learn from them," Brown said.

"It's sad that you put so much effort in and you don't actually take anything away from it."

The Dragons scored the only try of the first half when Soward backed up his 40-20 with a chip kick from the scrum win, Brett Morris winning the race to the ball just inside the dead ball line.

They doubled their advantage on 50 minutes when Josh Morris stood up Ben Pomeroy to join brother Brett in the tryscoring column.

The 12-0 lead didn't do justice to Cronulla's performance, with only their execution at the crucial final moment letting them down.

Finally they found some joy when a Soward kick out on the full from inside his own half put the home side on the attack, a miracle around-the-back flick pass from Brett Seymour setting up Luke Covell who let himself down when his simple conversion crashed into the upright.

A soft penalty for a late hit on Kimmorley allowed the Sharks to get within a converted try and when a Hornby kick copied Soward's path over the sideline, Cronulla were gifted another chance which Kimmorley grabbed with his second try of the year.

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