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Craig Fitzgibbon's Cronulla will not let a tough trip to Penrith knock them off course as they fight to keep an NRL finals spot.

Cronulla are not intimidated by a trip to face Penrith without warrior lock Dale Finucane, coach Craig Fitzgibbon insists.

The Sharks forward sustained a torn bicep in last week's 30-26 defeat to Manly and has been ruled out for the year.

The loss of Finucane, who played through the injury against the Sea Eagles, is a heavy blow for the Sharks' aspirations of finishing in the finals places.

Cronulla (10-8) sit sixth and their tough run home starts with a trip to BlueBet Stadium on Saturday.

The Panthers have beaten the Sharks in their last four meetings and their home ground has proved a graveyard for rival sides, with Penrith winning 37 of their past 41 games at the foot of the mountains.

"We want to give a good account of ourselves and we're up for the challenge," Fitzgibbon said.

"You can't get through a season without some sort of difficult proposition or challenge.

"We're excited for it, it's come at the time that it's come so let's go see what we're about."

Fitzgibbon, who has never lost three successive games in the same season, is keen for his side to start with a bang after they leaked 24 points in the first half against Manly last week.

Other than Finucane and suspended backrower Jesse Colquhoun, Fitzgibbon has stuck solid to the team which nearly ran the Sea Eagles down.

"We were flat and I was questioning why we were so flat," Fitzgibbon said.

"There's something to draw on in the second half but there are a lot of momentum swings in the game at the moment.

"When it goes against you, you need to stay strong. We'd like to play the way we finished for a bit longer."

Cronulla face Souths, Gold Coast, North Queensland, Newcastle and Canberra after Saturday's trip to Penrith.

And the Sharks coach is confident his side have enough fight in them to hang onto a spot in the top eight.

"There's still a fair bit of footy left," he said.

"Everyone will tell us about what's coming up. We've got to concentrate on Penrith at the moment, we can't take our eyes off what's important."