The halves combination Parramatta coach Stephen Kearney scoured the entire NRL for may have been under his nose the whole time with Jeff Robson and Casey McGuire dominating in the Eels' 40-6 thumping of Cronulla on Monday night.

Robson and McGuire set up four of the Eels seven tries to crush the patchwork Sharks outfit, the absence of NSW Origin representatives Paul Gallen and Kade Snowden plus Kiwi international Jeremy Smith leaving too many gaps in a squad already limited when fully fit.

Wingers Jordan Atkins and Luke Burt both scored doubles, the latter adding six goals to finish with a personal tally of 20 points to leave the home side just two points outside the top eight.

Eels fullback Jarryd Hayne - complete with fresh buzz cut - gave NSW Origin coach something to ponder as he laid on two four-pointers for the home side, but it was Parramatta's lesser known playmakers who tormented the Sharks as they displayed their full arsenal of tricks.

But while they stole the show on Monday night, the futures of Robson and McGuire remain in limbo with the club having secured Chris Sandow and Ben Roberts over the past fortnight - the latter duo having been brought in to wear the seven and six in 2012.

As good as Robson and McGuire - who switched to pivot after the pre-game dumping of Daniel Mortimer - were, they are sure to face sterner tests in coming weeks with Cronulla putting up meek resistance - halfback Scott Porter hooked with 20 minutes remaining in a sign of the visitors' struggles.

After drifting across field to put ben Smith over after 13 minutes, Robson and McGuire turned to the boot as they toyed with the Cronulla defence - rookie winger Stewart Mills a favoured target as he endured a shocking night under the high ball.

Back-to-back fumbles from Mills left the Sharks with a mountain of defence, the ask too much as Hayne provided a face ball for Jordan Atkins to get the first of his two tries on the night.

A McGuire kick-in behind Mills saw Burt sneak in around the back, Chris Walker completing the first half rout just shy of the break when he dived on a Robson grubber.

There was more of the same after the break as Burt and Atkins completed their doubles, the only sour note for the Eels being a potentially serious injury to Shane Shackleton, who was rushed to hospital with bleeding behind the retina.

Robson indicated he was still keen to stay with the club beyond this year but Kearney indicated a position may no longer be available.

"We've had an offer out for Jeff for the last eight weeks, we needed to make things concrete for where we're headed next year," Kearney said.

"Where that leaves Jeff I'm not 100 per cent sure at this stage.

"We made it pretty clear that once we'd made the decisions (on Sandow and Roberts) that we wouldn't be able to fit everyone in."

Robson offered: "I'd love to stay at the club, but they've signed another couple of halves and I just have to look at what's best for me."

Satisfied with his performance, Hayne revealed the catalyst for his self-inflicted new look was not a fresh start, but rather a novel punishment dished out by skipper Nathan Hindmarsh for a minor dressing room infringement.

"We've got this thing called 'spin the wheel' and it was Hindy's choice and I had to dye my hair," said Hayne, who revealed he was all set to bleach his locks.

"The coach came in and said 'no', I'll look like an idiot.

"So Hindy said 'shave it' ... the boys think it's pretty funny."

While acknowledging the absence of some senior players, Sharks coach Shane Flanagan slammed his team's performance.

"They were on tonight and we were off ... to come up with that tonight, it's not acceptable," he said.

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