Johnathan Thurston's Sydney farewell was overshadowed by an emotion-charged night at Cronulla, after Fifita stormed over to ignite an eventful final 15 minutes.

With scores locked 12-12 and after spending half the game on the bench, the big prop immediately got up yelling and pointing at Cronulla's coach's box after charging across the line to give the Sharks the lead.

He told Fox Sports after the game the message was for assistant coach Jim Dymock, who he claimed told him during the week he hadn't been running hard enough.

"Jimmy told him he wasn't running hard enough so he ran hard in the second half and scored a try," Sharks coach Shane Flanagan said.

"I love that. That's what we need. I wanted him to get out there and run hard. I'll get Jimmy to tell him that next week as well."

Fifita spent 41 minutes of the game on the sideline after giving away an early penalty but Flanagan said that was by way of managing his workload before the finals.

Told it looked like Fifita was desperate to get back on the field during his enforced rest, Flanagan said: "Good on him, it's not his team."

The drama didn't end with Fifita's try though as North Queensland's Gavin Cooper crossed to give Thurston a chance to level the scores from the sideline with seven minutes to play.

Unlike his final State of Origin game in Sydney, however, the retiring legend was unable to land the conversion.

He was then involved in more drama, with John Asiata moments later sin-binned for a professional foul in interfering with the Sharks' attack while well offside.

A frustrated Thurston swore at referee Matt Cecchin, telling him the call was "bulls***" before Cronulla crossed for two more late tries to keep the Cowboys in last place.

In his third-last NRL game, the little master gave the club's NSW-based fans one last glimpse of his brilliance with an out-the-back flick pass to put Coen Hess over in the first half.

"We fight to get ourselves back in the game and then we just hand it to them on a platter," Thurston said.

"We just can't finish it off and that's been the story of our year."

The win kept Cronulla sixth with two games to play but only behind Penrith and St George Illawarra on for-and-against and a favourable draw.

However it came at a cost, with centres Jesse Ramien (ankle) and Ricky Leutele (knee) failing to return from injuries Flanagan hoped were minor.

Halfback Chad Townsend was Cronulla's best, setting up their only first-half try for Luke Lewis before crossing himself early in the second.

Australian Associated Press