Cronulla are drawing on the spirit of 2016 as they seek to catch fire during the NRL finals.

The Sharks come into the post season as the undisputed dark horses of the top eight.

They have four wins from their last four starts and while they’ve shown glimpses of what they’re capable of – evidenced by their round 22 win over Melbourne – they still haven’t hit their straps.

Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan leans on the old cliche that the finals is a new competition.

And he points to two years ago when they limped into September with one win over their last six regular round matches and sprung a monumental upset against an in-form Canberra on their way to an inaugural premiership.

Heading into Saturday’s qualifying final with minor premiers the Sydney Roosters, Flanagan is telling his men anything is possible.

“We went to Canberra in ’16 and they were coming off the back of a 10-game winning streak and somehow we found a way to get it done,” Flanagan said.

“Coming into semi-finals you need to find a way sometimes. You might not be the best team for the majority of the time but you just need to be the best team at really important parts of the game and scrap away, save a try rather than score one and you’ll get there.

“They’re a different beast semi-finals but we’re ready and in a good position.”

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Sharks are taking their lessons from last year’s first-week exit at the hands of eighth-placed North Queensland.

For much of 2017 talk had centred around the Sharks’ chances of being the first team since Brisbane in 1992-93 to go back-to-back.

Skipper Paul Gallen this week said they were undone by comparisons to the previous year.

And Flanagan said the match presented valuable insight into how to handle big game situations.

“In that game we had a chance to get up into position and kick a field goal and we didn’t nail that and the Cowboys did,” Flanagan said.

“You’ve got to take your opportunities in semi-finals, that’s something we did learn out of it. “