The victory was anything but convincing as the Sharks recovered from an eight-point second-half deficit to prevail at Cbus Super Stadium on Sunday.
Quietening some doubters, Cronulla were happy to bank the priceless two competition points and move on after staying in the hunt for an all-important double chance in the looming finals.
No team in NRL history has won the premiership from outside the top four.
"The most pleasing thing is, if you have a look into it enough, not many teams come from that far beyond and then sort themselves out and I thought we did that pretty well," said Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon.
To snatch a top-four berth, though, Cronulla still likely need to beat Parramatta next week and Melbourne in the final round and hope the fourth-placed Dolphins lose to either the third-placed Sydney Roosters or Titans.
But they are still in the race at least after rebounding from successive defeats to their wooden-spoon bound St George Illawarra neighbours and fellow 2026 also-rans Canberra.
"The hardest thing is that you're playing teams with nothing to lose," Fitzgibbon said.
"It's definitely not at the level the last couple of weeks that we have been. But the second half was close to what we were, so we'll just take the second half and move on with that."
And for the eighth time in nine games, the Sharks won without injured playmaker Braydon Trindall.
Trindall sat anxiously on the sidelines after dislocating his shoulder against the Raiders last week, his return date still unknown.
His halves replacement Niwhai Puru had a mixed game.
While he improved his record to four from four while deputising this season for either Trindall or Sharks general Nicho Hynes, Puru's ill-discipline also put his side under pressure at times.
Just like in their losses to the Dragons and Raiders, Cronulla started promisingly and bagged the opening try of the game.
This time it was Ronaldo Mulitalo who crossed first, the prolific winger moving past the great David Peachey on the Sharks' all-time leading try-scorers' list with his 111th four-pointer for the club.
Only club legend Andrew Ettingshausen (165) remains above Mulitalo.
But the celebrations were short-lived, with Jojo Fifita quickly replying for Gold Coast to level up the scores at 4-4.
Even after Sione Katoa put the Sharks back in front, the Titans responded to regain the lead through AJ Brimson after Puru's back chat gifted the Titans a penalty, an extra 10 metres and field position to strike back.
Like Mulitalo, Phillip Sami became the Titans' highest-ever try-scorer with his 78th four-pointer that gave the hosts a 16-8 lead at the break.
But Cameron McInnes, Addin Fonua-Blake, Katoa and Mulitalo all scored after a halftime rev-up from Fitzgibbon to keep the Sharks in the 2026 title race.
