Cronulla second-rower Grant Millington has revealed the Sharks have been planning ways to negate Manly's Anthony Watmough ahead of Saturday's NRL clash at Toyota Park.

Watmough was outstanding in the Blues' 28-16 State of Origin victory over Queensland in Brisbane on Wednesday, and Millington admitted he was in awe of his performance.

"He was unreal, Watmough killed it, there is not much more you can say about him," said Millington.

"He will come here on a big high and we have got a real job on our hands trying to keep him quiet."

The Sharks have won four of their last six games to give some respectability to a season that has been one to forget on and off the field, even for a club where success has been in short supply in recent years.

Millington said having the bye last week has allowed coach Ricky Stuart to prepare his players for two of their most difficult games of the season with the visit of the reigning premiers being followed by a trip to Melbourne next weekend.

Despite sitting second-bottom on the table, the 22-year-old said there is still belief the finals are not beyond the Sharks' reach.

"With the bye, it has helped us freshen up for a couple of tough weeks and hopefully travelling into the back end of the season we can still mathematically make the eight," he said.

"We have remain to confident we can do that."

With Manly having four players backing up from one of the most brutal Origin clashes in years, Millington is hopeful the Sharks will be able to take advantage of some tired legs among their key players.

"They will have four players coming back from Origin and they will be confident about coming down here to play us, but we have a good pack and confident guys on the edges," he said.

"It is always good to play Manly and of course we are playing for the Steve Rogers Cup which is a big thing for this club so there is plenty to play for."

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