Brett Kimmorley stole Andrew Johns' thunder with three crucial intercepts as 12-man Cronulla - revved up by the first send-off of the National Rugby League season - beat Newcastle 30-24 in Saturday night's rollercoaster match at EnergyAustralia Stadium.

With the Sharks trailing 24-20 after 65 minutes, seemingly dead and buried, Kimmorley rallied his troops with an impassioned speech under the posts after second-rower Paul Gallen was ordered from the field for a high tackle that concussed Knights five-eighth Sean Rudder.

The Sharks' skipper promptly scored twice to get his side home.

Asked about his post-Gallen speech, Kimmorley said: "It was just a matter of us not getting down in the dumps.

"The best part was that we all fired up after it. It was just a matter of digging deep and showing how much courage we had.

"We've spoken about club spirit a lot this year and we dug in really deep today.

"When he got sent off, it probably helped us, rather than him getting put on report.

"It made us work harder and probably lifted us more than a normal penalty would have."

The Sharks won it, lost it, then won it again.

They led 14-0 after 33 minutes, trailed 16-14 at halftime, looked gone at 22-14 down early in the second half, still trailed by four points when Gallen was marched ... but took the two points anyway.

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