Cronulla's ordinary early season luck has continued with star recruit Trent Barrett running out of time in his desperate bid to play in Sunday's NRL clash against the Bulldogs.

What appeared a mere formality the moment he was placed in a neck brace and carried up the tunnel at WIN Jubilee Oval last weekend was confirmed on Saturday with Barrett ruled out of the ANZ Stadium clash by club doctor David Givney.

The neck injury, which Barrett sustained when he crunched his head against teammate Blake Ferguson's hip as the pair tackled St George Illawarra backrower Ben Creagh, had simply not healed sufficiently.

With Barrett still struggling with the range of movement in his neck, it was deemed a risk not worth taking.

His absence continues a horror start to 2009 for the Sharks, who have battled with player availability since their opening round win over Penrith.

Barrett's absence is offset somewhat by the return of Brett Seymour from a club imposed suspension, Seymour to partner Blake Green in the halves following Barrett's withdrawal.

Winger Misi Taulapapa also returns from suspension, but it remains to be seen whether the Sharks can find that spark in attack without their chief playmaker.

The Bulldogs have also had their problems, though most of them have been off-field.

The loss of two competition points for fielding an extra player in their win over Penrith was finally confirmed on Friday, the Bulldogs slipping from first spot on the ladder heading into round three to tenth spot on the ladder heading into round four.

Skipper Andrew Ryan said the players were focusing more on their form than the standings.

"We can't control anything to do with the two points from the Penrith game, but at the moment we're two wins out of the three games and we can take a fair bit of confidence out of that," Ryan said.

"We're still trying to work our own games out, work out how we're going with our combinations ... for us it's about trying to improve on last week's performance (a 20-12 loss to Gold Coast).

"We played pretty well against Manly (in round one), who were probably a little bit off their game, we did some good things against Penrith and we also did some good things against Gold Coast."

The game will feature a number of intriguing match-ups including several involving players turning out against their old clubs, Sharks duo Corey Hughes and Reni Maitua playing against the Bulldogs for the first time.

Maitua on Friday began legal action against the club claiming he was wrongfully sacked by the Bulldogs in December last year.

Bulldogs No.7 Brett Kimmorley will also no doubt have a point to prove after being let go by the Sharks following their signing of Barrett midway through 2008.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP