Pride was the motivator as Cronulla held off a desperate fightback from Canberra to end their NRL season with a 22-12 victory at Canberra Stadium.

With both teams out of the top eight, the best outcome from Saturday night's final match of the season was a move up the NRL ladder.

The Sharks could now end the season as high as 10th position, depending on Sunday's results, while the Raiders were left wallowing in a forgettable 14th place.

Despite both teams having no hope of making the finals, there was plenty of passion on the field - evident when Sharks prop Eddie Su'a and Raiders five-eighth Terry Campese threw punches to initiate an all-in scuffle.

"The team that was going to win tonight was the team that had the most pride and the most team spirit," Sharks coach Ricky Stuart said.

"But the way Canberra turned up to play too you can tell there's a lot of pride and spirit in their joint as well.

"At times like this it is a little bit hard to take the field knowing you're not in the semis and there's not a lot to play for. So there is pride in both joints."

Raiders coach Neil Henry admitted his debut year as a first grade coach had been disappointing given his team's result.

"There's no way you can say you'd be satisfied playing like that," he said.

"Credit to the Sharks tonight. Cronulla came out and out-enthused us."

Canberra got off to a good start when it opened the scoring in the fourth minute courtesy of a try to prop Scott Logan, with halfback Todd Carney adding the extra two points.

Sharks fullback Mitch Brown responded in the 12th minute and Cronulla winger Luke Covell posted a converted try of his own in the 18th minute to put the Sharks ahead for the first time.

Covell added another two points in the 24th minute to give Cronulla a 12-6 halftime lead.

The Sharks winger scored his second try of the night in the 50th minute and Cronulla hooker Isaac De Gois made it four tries to one when he crossed in the 64th minute, giving the Sharks an unbeatable 22-6 lead.

But Canberra continued the fight and was finally rewarded in the 68th minute when Carney scored off a break from winger Brett Kelly, narrowing the scoreline to 22-12 after kicking the goal.

The Raiders continued to put Cronulla under pressure until the final play of the night, when centre Colin Best unsuccessfully came within centimetres of scoring.

Sharks lock Paul Gallen admitted his team had underachieved this season but hoped it had changed the public view of the club.

"If we've done nothing else this year I think we've changed the persona, the way people see our club," he said.

"We probably had the tag of being a bit soft and I think if you ask other teams about our team this year they'll respect us a whole lot more than they have in the past couple of years.

"I think that's the big achievement this year."

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