Sharks' season back on track after 10 minutes of torment secures win over St George Illawarra
Off the back of two straight losses and after trailing at halftime, Cronulla went from 18-6 down to 22-18 up between the 47th and 57th minutes on Thursday night.
The hosts then did enough to hold on for victory at Shark Park, making it 10 in a row against their arch-rivals and keeping the Sharks fifth on the ladder.
Trindall scored a double and kicked superbly in the win, while Blayke Brailey was back to his running ways out of dummy-half early in the game.
Their Sharks teammate Sione Katoa produced one of the tries of the year with a brilliant effort that proved the match clincher.
With the Dragons down 24-18 with five minutes to play, five-eighth Lyhkan King-Togia chipped ahead and went to toe the ball on again.
But Katoa slid along the ground to catch the ball goalkeeper-style, before gathering his feet and sprinting 60 metres to score.
The result makes it two losses in a row for the Dragons, with Shane Flanagan's men now 12th and at risk of sliding further south this weekend.
For Cronulla, this was a desperately needed win.
Beaten by an undermanned Sydney Roosters and the Warriors in the Shire in their past two matches, Cronulla travel to Brisbane and Melbourne in the next fortnight.
Things started well with Brailey running out of dummy-half, and the hooker bust through the middle to send Trindall over for his first.
But after that, it was all the Dragons before the break.
Damien Cook turned back the clock for one try and King-Togia beat four defenders for another.
And when Jack de Belin went over with Sharks centre Jesse Ramien in the sin-bin for a professional foul it was 18-6.
Then it was left for Trindall to revive the Sharks in the second half.
The five-eighth put Briton Nikora over with a short ball, before staying alive to score from one of his own bombs after Clint Gutherson and Tyrell Sloan failed to defuse it.
The go-ahead try then came when Nathan Lawson dropped Trindall's next bomb, and Sione Katoa skipped to the outside of Dragons centre Moses Suli from the scrum to score.
The only concern for Cronulla came in the form of a knee injury for Mawene Hiroti, just a week after fellow centre KL Iro was ruled out for two months with a pectoral tear.
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