Cameron McInnes insists the Sharks can climb off the canvas to end their NRL finals losing streak. [Source: Joel Carrett/AAP]

Cronulla are sitting on the verge of unwanted history, with their seven-match losing streak in finals matches now the equal-worst of the NRL era.

Front-runners for the first half of the year, the Sharks now face a do-or-die semi-final against North Queensland at Accor Stadium on Friday night.

The Sharks are one of only three teams to have played in at least nine of the past 10 finals series.

But the concern for Cronulla has been their inability to win them.

Their last finals victory came back in 2018, when they beat Penrith 21-20 in a see-sawing do-or-die match at Allianz Stadium.

In the six years since, the Sharks have been beaten just about every possible way.

They have been blown out of the water by South Sydney in 2022, and knocked out in a drama-laden preliminary final by Melbourne in 2018.

There was heartbreak in the 2022 qualifying final when Valentine Holmes sank a golden-point extra-time two-point field goal to kick North Queensland home.

And the Sharks were victims of a field goal again last year in an elimination final, when Sam Walker slotted the Sydney Roosters home.

Cronulla players have long been adamant that their finals record is not a major concern, and that each of the losses are independent from each other.

“Every year is a different year,” captain Cameron McInnes told AAP last week.

“This (year) is the best prepared we have been for that. But I imagine if things weren’t to go the way we wanted, there are always going to be questions.

“But that’s every team. If you don’t win, we’re all in the same boat aren’t we?”

McInnes was also insistent that this Sharks team was more resilient than most others, after a year of injuries in the halves and the forward pack.

“Every year has different challenges. We’ve gone through a fair few this year,” McInnes said.

“But as much adversity was thrown at us, I feel like we’ve stood up to it. Maybe in the past couple of years we probably wouldn’t have.

“I don’t reckon we’ve had the challenges the past couple of years that we have this year.

“That growth is quite evident. Whether other people see it or not, we definitely feel it. I feel like we’re in the best place we’ve been to enter the finals series.”

Cronulla will now need to show that on Friday night.

The Sharks already hold the record for the most consecutive finals losses in the game’s history, with 10 between 1978 and 1995.

Newtown and North Sydney also endured eight-match finals losing streaks in their history, both of which began in the 1940s and 1950s.

In the modern era, which began in 1998, Canberra lost seven straight between 2000 and 2008, while Brisbane did likewise between 2002 and 2006.

The Broncos celebrating ending that streak by winning a premiership. Cronulla must win on Friday night to have any chance of doing likewise.