After another dominant win at home in the finals for Melbourne, they've earned a week off and a home prelim. But for Cronulla, it's another limp showing in a finals game, and alarm bells are ringing.
Here's three things we learned from the game:
Next week is Cronulla's biggest game since the 2016 grand final
It's win or go home next week for Cronulla, and this is their biggest game in almost a decade. They've been a regular finals team in the years since the 2016 drought-breaker, but have lost most of those postseason fixtures.
Sharks fans are sick of hearing about allegations of soft schedules inflating their regular season position, and rightfully so - they had some very big and important wins this year and earned their place in the top four. But the inability to get over the hump in the finals becomes more and more of a concern with each defeat, and what briefly looked like a close game ended up an embarrassing blowout.
There is no tougher assignment than Melbourne in Melbourne, but the Sharks didn't help themselves in any way. A slow start coupled with simple errors throughout the game is a recipe for failure.
Cronulla came into this finals series with more question marks above them than any other team, and played like a squad fully aware of their recent finals record. It was nervous and frantic to start before they settled into a rhythm, but some careless mistakes and poor decision-making had them on the back foot until that Sione Katoa try calmed things down.
Nicho Hynes failed to find touch with a kick and left a couple of tries on the field with poor choices on the last tackle, and while the physicality was there from their forward pack, everything else they do so well off the back of that was lacking, bar a couple of moments of individual brilliance from Siosifa Talakai and Braydon Trindall.
There were moments in the game where it looked like Cronulla could force their way back into it - but whether it was a poor choice at the end of a set, a dumb penalty, or a careless error, they couldn't get out of their own way for more than a few minutes at a time.
So where does that leave the Sharks? They're now in year three of the Craig Fitzgibbon era, but despite winning two-thirds of their games in that time, are 0-for-4 in finals. The Cowboys will be coming to town, and the stakes are as high as can be for Cronulla. You've played so well all year, but it's been three years of falling short when it matters most. Prove everyone wrong and take care of business next week.
The Melbourne machine is inevitable
To beat a team like the Storm in a big finals game, you have to be close to perfect. Cronulla nailed the tone early on in terms of game speed and aggression, but the longer the game went on, the more mistakes they made, and were repeatedly punished for. Melbourne's dominance this year has been questioned by a lot of people - flattering to deceive in some wins and relying heavily on the brilliance of Jahrome Hughes. But you don't get to the top of the table by accident, and today, it was more of the same from them in terms of consistency.
The Storm attacked both sides of the field with great effect, and it was their second phase play that really got them on the front foot before a couple of late tries blew the scoreline out.
There were important contributions from all of their star players, especially Hughes, the forwards did their job and kept the errors low, and in the brief periods that Cronulla did have the ascendancy, the Melbourne defence kept them at bay. Not the most blistering win of all time, but it was still 37 points scored and a fellow top four team made to look extremely second-rate.
Trindall the bright spot on a tough afternoon
The Sharks' formula for success in the latter stages of the season has been down to some exceptional play from the likes of Braydon Trindall and Will Kennedy, allowing Nicho Hynes to apply a little bit of a lighter touch than in previous years.
Trindall's boot was invaluable on three or four occasions in the second half, turning Ryan Papenhuyzen around and finding green grass deep in the other side of the field. His flick pass for Briton Nikora's try gave the Sharks a big boost going into half-time, and it's just a shame that such an excellent moment came in a game that, ultimately, Cronulla fans will want to forget.