Cronulla lamented the players they lost, but it was a player they didn't have in the first place who proved the difference as North Queensland maestro Johnathan Thurston powered the Cowboys to a drought-breaking 30-12 NRL win at Toyota Stadium.

Thurston was at his scintillating best as he toyed with the Sharks, his sublime kicking and passing game setting up three of the Cowboys' five tries in their first win in Sharks territory since 2004.

On the back of Darren Lockyer's masterful display for Brisbane on Friday night, Thurston's performance would have put a smile on the face of watching Queensland coach Mal Meninga - NSW mentor Ricky Stuart no doubt wondering just what he has got himself into.

But it is Shane Flanagan, Stuart's successor at the Sharks, who has more immediate problems, with key attacking duo Nathan Gardner (ankle ligaments) and Albert Kelly (suspected broken leg) both failing to see out the half as Cronulla slipped to a fourth straight loss.

While it is doubtful whether the efforts of those two combined could have matched Thurston's output, the Sharks were never seriously in the hunt after Gardner limped from the field less than five minutes into the game.

"At stages in that second half, I was looking around wondering where we were going to score points with those two off the field," Flanagan said.

"They're important parts of our team, especially in our attacking game, but I still thought for 30 minutes of the game we were in the arm wrestle, and JT, his class came in there.

"His kicking game stood ours up and showed how poor ours was."

Having held firm in the face of an early 4-0 penalty count, the Cowboys were eventually given a sniff when Matthew Wright - deputising at fullback for Gardner - spilled a tough bomb on his own line.

Gavin Cooper crossed for the first of his two tries in his 100th NRL game soon after and with Kelly not returning after the break, Thurston set up tries for Kalifa Faifai Loa and Cooper around an Ashley Graham four-pointer.

It handed the Cowboys a commanding 26-0 lead before Luke Douglas and Paul Gallen gave the small crowd of 7340 something to cheer with a pair of tries.

"That's probably our best performance - a high completion rate and I think for a good 70 minutes of that game defensively we were excellent," Cowboys coach Neil Henry said.

"It's no secret our second halves haven't been great but I thought the first 20 minutes of that second half was excellent."

While some changes will be forced on him by injury, Flanagan indicated that wouldn't be the end of the turnover after four straight losses.

Sharks doctor Dave Givney was hopeful of having Gardner back within a fortnight, but he expects Kelly to be out for 6-8 weeks with a suspected break below the knee.

"We probably need a bit of a freshen up and we're going to get one because of a little bit of injury and a bit of lack of form," Flanagan said.

"We need to win on Friday night, it's a big game against Souths.

"There will be some changes."

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