Canberra's NRL premiership bid has crumbled at the hands of Cronulla, who have claimed a 32-12 semi-final victory to send the Raiders crashing out of the finals in straight sets.
Ricky Stuart's men became the first minor premiers to suffer consecutive finals defeats since St George Illawarra in 2009 as they froze on Saturday night in the biggest game of their season.
Cronulla weathered an early onslaught at GIO Stadium to book a place in next Friday's preliminary final against Melbourne
"(The Raiders) were the best team all year - minor premiers. We're pretty pleased with the result but we're not done yet either," said Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon.
"We essentially haven't achieved anything yet."
Led by halfback Nicho Hynes, the Sharks ruthlessly poked at the Raiders' sore points which were exposed in last week's 94th minute qualifying final loss to Brisbane.
Canberra's flimsy right edge defence comprising halfback Jamal Fogarty, second-rower Zac Hosking and centre Matt Timoko missed 12 tackles combined as Hynes and halves partner Braydon Trindall ran riot.
Their chemistry helped move the Sharks to within one game of a grand final, though the Sharks will be without Tom Hazelton (concussion) next week and fellow prop Toby Rudolf will be sweating on the charge sheet after two first-half high shots.
Canberra will be left wondering what might have been after a season that promised so much.
"It's been a very positive season. They've come a long way, but as I just said to them, the better you get, the more you get hunted, and we did tonight," Stuart said.
"We were just outplayed by a better team tonight."
Livewire five-eighth Ethan Strange was ruled out on gameday through illness, and with Simi Sasagi deputising as a No.6, the Raiders lacked their usual spark.
"I'm not blaming that," Stuart said of Strange's absence.
The home side struggled for fluency in attack and only got on the board when Corey Horsburgh burst through a drained Sharks defence to touch down in the 22nd minute.
Horsburgh's try gave the Sharks a chance to regroup and even accounting for Hazelton going off, Fitzgibbon's men began showing up the Raiders' shortcomings.
"Nothing went our way for so long," Fitzgibbon said.
"To hang in there and get out of it was really pleasing."
Halfback Fogarty came up too eagerly in defence and Hynes helped send Mulitalo over on the left wing with a 34th minute try.
Cronulla smelled blood and added a second when centre KL Iro ran through some meek Timoko defence just before halftime.
"A couple of bad decisions let them back in the game. I think mentally we had to switch back on and we couldn't," said Canberra captain Joe Tapine.
Iro was felled close to the Raiders' tryline but on the next tackle Hynes waltzed through a disorganised defence to put his side 12-6 up at the break.
Fogarty made amends for his early misread straight after halftime, sending a cutout pass to Seb Kris, who tipped on for Savelio Tamale to finish in the left corner.
But that was about as good as it got for the home side as Billy Burns swatted through a feeble Fogarty tackle to move the Sharks back in front.
Hynes, who finished the night with six goals from six attempts, kicked the conversion before adding a 25m penalty to open an eight-point buffer on the hour mark.
Canberra have made a habit of miracle comebacks but on Saturday their luck ran out.
Iro scooped up a loose ball after a blunder from Jed Stuart to go over before a try to Teig Wilton put the finishing touches on an impressive Sharks win.
Buoyant Cronulla fans then broke into spontaneous renditions of Canberrra's signature Viking clap as the clock ticked down to fulltime.
