Cronulla's recruitment drive paid immediate dividends on Saturday night as Trent Barrett and Anthony Tupou made stunning debuts in the Sharks' 18-10 NRL victory over Penrith at Toyota Stadium.

Barrett and Tupou scored Cronulla's two tries as the Sharks made the most of appalling conditions to claim the competition points in front of 10,617 brave fans.

Belting rain and lightning covered the stadium for much of the game and it was Cronulla's patience with the ball that proved the difference as the Panthers consistently squandered their chances by inexplicably kicking early.

Former Dragon Barrett, playing his 200th NRL game and first in 903 days after two years with Wigan, was superb for the Sharks.

He booted a 40-20 with his first kick, scored the first try of the night in the 10th minute and helped set up Tupou's 55th-minute four-pointer.

Barrett put skipper Paul Gallen through a gap with a cut-out pass before the lock forward flicked it back inside for ex-Sydney Rooster Tupou to score.

But the Sharks victory has come at a significant cost with fullback Brett Kearney (ankle sprain) and prop Ben Ross (neck) both carried from the field.

Ross reeled out of a tackle late in the game after three forwards collapsed on top of him and was rushed to hospital.

Kearney will be sent for scans on Monday after he suffered a high ankle sprain midway through the opening half.

The loss of Kearney forced a reshuffle of Cronulla's backline with Misi Taulapapa and debutant Blake Ferguson both given time at fullback only to consistently make handling errors.

But the Panthers never once made the Sharks pay as halfback Jarrod Sammut and fullback Lachlan Coote kicked early in the tackle count several times for no result.

Centre Michael Jennings scored Penrith's only try in the 20th minute when he side-stepped around four defenders to score beneath the posts.

Sharks coach Ricky Stuart said there were serious concerns over the well-being of Ross, with club doctors believing he had damaged his spine just below his neck.

"It does not look good," said Stuart.

"He is in an awful amount of pain ... he is in a real lot of bother."

Stuart said the only positives to come out of the game was their staunch defence and two competition points.

"I have seen some ugly games of football but I don't think I have seen any uglier," said Stuart.

"It was not just the amount of ball we dropped but where we dropped it. You would expect under eights and under nines to do that and you'd still be dirty on them.

"But I've always said I'll take an ugly win instead of an attractive loss."

Barrett was happy with his first-up performance but knows there is a long way to go if Cronulla are to be contenders this year.

"We did make it hard for ourselves," he said.

"I'm confident the team can defend anyway. I found that out."

Like Stuart, Penrith coach Matthew Elliott was proud of the defensive commitment shown by his side but was bemused at their attacking decisions.

He described their second-half performance as ugly but conceded that playing with patience in attack is always a risk when fielding so many young players.

"It was not something we prepared to do," said Elliott of his side's early kicking tactics.

"But you get that with a young team and we lost our way in the second half.

"We have a very talented team of young guys and we have plenty of improvement in us."

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