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Penrith extended their NRL winning streak to 10 after thumping Cronulla at Panthers Stadium on Friday night.

With eyes on the NRL minor premiership, records continue to tumble at Penrith after thumping Cronulla 38-12 at Panthers Stadium on Friday night.

Extending their club-record winning streak to 10, the Panthers took another step into the premiership limelight as they made light work of a scrappy Sharks side.

The Panthers are now three points clear at the top of the ladder with a favourable draw on their side, on track for their third minor premiership in club history.

But that isn't what coach Ivan Cleary wants to hear.

"I don't mean to be arrogant or disrespectful to the Sharks," he said.

"We're confident, we're doing a lot of things right, but there's lessons again tonight and little things in our game week to week, whether it's individual or team things to improve on and the boys know that."

But aside from their usual slew of stars, rising gun Liam Martin caused nightmares for the Sharks defence as he terrorised five-eighth Matt Moylan.

On a high after extending his contract for another two seasons earlier in the week, the 23-year-old twice cruised past Moylan - once to set up a try for Brent Naden and again to score himself with half an hour to play.

His two strips also turned the tide in the Panthers' favour, although not much went the way of Cronulla.

The visitors were dealt a huge blow in the lead up with halfback Shaun Johnson ruled out with a groin injury.

The Kiwi international leads the NRL with 20 try-assists this season and the Sharks missed his direction with ball in hand.

A horror defensive effort and 14 errors made fluency impossible for the Sharks, who have yet to beat a current top-eight side this season.

"We can't get too bogged down but everyone likes to remind us of it," said Sharks coach John Morris.

"It doesn't help me standing up in front of my team saying 'we haven't beaten a top-eight team'.

"We've got to work out exactly what's hurting us at the moment, we're still making too many errors coming out of our end, our defence is not where it needs to be.

"We do need to beat some sides above us, that's for sure, but we can only play what our draw is and we've won eight from 13 since the COVID break."

Replacement half Braydon Trindall was smashed late by Panthers second-rower Viliame Kikau, who could face the wrath of the NRL's match review committee for the shot.

The Sharks scored just once each half through Jesse Ramien and Connor Tracey as the Panthers maintained the pressure from a 22-6 halftime lead.

Kikau, Stephen Crichton and Jarome Luai all scored, while winger Josh Mansour celebrated his 150th NRL match with a double.

Hooker Api Koroisau didn't finish the match with a calf injury and will go for scans on Saturday.

The Panthers are now practically perfect from their last 10 games.

And forget scoring within the first 20 minutes of a match - the Panthers have not conceded a point in the opening quarter since round one against Sydney Roosters.

It's the longest stretch since records were kept in 1980.

Their 10th victory in a row is the longest winning streak for any side during the regular season since the Sharks in 2016.

The top-placed Panthers now have a wonderful run in to the finals, playing only Parramatta from the top eight in the final five weeks.

Next week they face Wests Tigers at Penrith, followed by Brisbane, Eels, North Queensland and Canterbury.

The Sharks, meanwhile, remain in seventh place and will play North Queensland on Saturday next week.