Cronulla Sharks beat South Sydney Rabbitohs 20-7 in NRL round 24

Video highlights: CRONULLA stormed into the play-offs for the first time since 2008 on the back of a timely rev-up from Paul Gallen.

CRONULLA last night stormed into the play-offs for the first time since 2008 on the back of a timely rev-up from skipper Paul Gallen.

By stunning premiership hot-shots Souths, the Gallen-inspired Sharks produced a remarkable turnaround following last Monday's thumping by the Knights.

Coach Shane Flanagan revealed that he feared his side was about to be dumped out the back door and miss out on the finals.

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Such was his concern, Flanagan distanced himself from his players leading into last night's game in a bid to avoid spreading panic.

"I was really worried - 100 per cent," Flanagan said.

"I was feeling a lot of pressure this week and I actually tried to avoid being around the players.

"We have been in that top four all year and we have started to struggle in the last couple of weeks.

"I was really feeling the pressure and I didn't want the players to feel it.

"The whole thing is we know we are a good football team and we believe that. We had some patches during the year where we went on long runs and beat some good sides. We had to get back to that form and we got there tonight."

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Boom rookie Tyson Frizell powered over in the 69th minute to steal back the lead 12-7 after halfback Adam Reynolds had put Souths in front 7-6 with a 39m field goal.

John Williams scored a thrilling final minute try to cap the win and ensure Cronulla's premiership dream remains alive.

Rabbitohs v Sharks

But as the dust settled on a tough win against the Rabbitohs, Gallen revealed his pain and frustration at sitting out the past three finals series.

The NSW Origin captain sought out some of the young players in his team on Friday to explain to them how much playing in the finals would mean to both him and the club.

"I said to the boys on Friday that you don't know how good the semis are until you are not playing in them," Gallen said.

"Not playing in them over the last couple of years has been really tough.

"I actually went to most of the semis last year and the crowd and the hype, it was just so special.

"I have really tried to drum that into our young guys. I have told them that they don't come around every year and they are special. I remember in my first few years we were always making them. I thought we would always be in them, but it just doesn't happen."

Gallen admitted the Sharks were playing for their season.

"That's what I told them and we went into the match with that mentality. We played really well and we just have to do it again next week."

Following an error-riddled start by the Rabbitohs, Andrew Fifita scored in the 19th minute to give the home side an early 6-0 advantage. Sam Burgess looked to have turned the tide for the Rabbitohs when he stepped and twisted his way over in the 47th minute, but the Sharks were good enough to grind out the win.

Souths coach Michael Maguire said there was no panic within the camp following two straight losses.

The Rabbitohs must beat either Parramatta next week or Newcastle in the final round to assure themselves of a top-four berth.

Rabbitohs v Sharks

"We probably didn't handle the arm wrestle as well as they did," Maguire said.

"We have a team here that is hurting a little bit, but we will return to work on Monday and analyse it and work out what we have to do.

"We are obviously disappointed but, again, we have built and worked very hard on our style of footy and we just have to go back to what works. We know what we have to do, we just need to do it."

Despite the return of Greg Inglis, the Rabbitohs failed to fire in attack.

"We probably weren't as fluent as we have been in the past," Maguire said.

"I was just speaking to the halves then and they felt that during the game. We will work on that for next week."

CRONULLA 20 (A Fifita T Frizell J Williams tries T Carney 4 goals) SOUTH SYDNEY 7 (S Burgess try A Reynolds goal A Reynolds field goal) at Toyota Stadium. Referees: Tony Archer, Brett Suttor. Crowd: 16,423.