Playing for an injured Dean Whare, the 19-year-old also had a try assist and broke a game-high six tackles to spark the Panthers to their biggest win of the season.

"The tries (were good). He did really well to set one up, too. Defensively, he did his job; a couple of yardage carries, he did really well too," coach Ivan Cleary said.

"He's definitely quick."

Cleary's side temporarily jump over Parramatta to top spot, with the Eels a chance of reclaiming pole position on Sunday when they face Newcastle.

The Sharks' lopsided defeat not only snaps a three-game winning streak, but is also their heaviest under second-year coach John Morris.

Their defence simply had no answers against a juggernaut attack which ran in 10 tries, including two to another rookie in centre Stephen Crichton.

Star halfback Nathan Cleary also kicked seven goals.

The signs were ominous for Cronulla the moment Penrith centre Brent Naden strolled over in just the fourth minute at Kogarah's Netstrata Jubilee Stadium.

Liam Martin and Crichton crossed for soft tries soon after, before Staines flashed his potential on back-to-back possessions.

The Forbes' product pointed straight at his home-town fans in the northwest corner of the ground when he claimed his maiden try in the 24th minute.

But that was just a preview of his next contribution, bursting down the right touchline on the return set and sending Dylan Edwards to score.

When Crichton crossed, the Panthers were racing the clock at 26-0, off the back of a 76 per cent possession rate and a whopping 19-7 advantage in sets.

Cronulla eventually found their bearings late in the half, with Briton Nikora and Blayke Brailey reducing the deficit to 14 points at the break.

But Staines ensured there was no second-half comeback when he scored off a Naden tapback, sending his mates, who had switched corners, into a frenzy.

Not even the sin-binning of James Tamou could halt the Panthers' relentless attack, with Billy Burns crossing despite being down to 12 men.

Jesse Ramien and Nene Macdonald, in his first match for the Sharks, added some respectability to the scoreline, before Staines completed his quadruple.

Compounding the loss for the Sharks is a suspected hamstring injury to Andrew Fifita, who failed to take the field in the second half.

Morris gave his team some credit for taking momentum into halftime but, by then, the damage was done.

"It's a classic example of not so much winning the game in the first 20, but losing it and it just took so much out of us. I think it broke us mentally," he said.

Australian Associated Press