Paul Gallen suffered a rib injury during his record-breaking appearance as Cronulla Sharks thrashed North Queensland Cowboys 42-16, while Melbourne Storm and Manly Sea Eagles claimed emphatic NRL wins on Saturday.

Gallen lasted only 23 minutes of his record 329th cap for the Sharks and Matt Moylan was withdrawn late on due to a hamstring injury, but the Cowboys were very much second best at 1300SMILES Stadium.

Captain Gallen laid on the first try for Chad Townsend before the Cowboys hit back to take a 10-6 half-time lead, Jordan McLean and Te Maire Martin claiming four-pointers.

Cronulla ran away with it in the second half, scoring five tries in the space of 17 minutes, with Briton Nikora, Townsend, Josh Morris (two) and Josh Dugan going over.

Blayke Brailey put the icing on the cake with his first NRL try two minutes from time and Shaun Johnson slotted over his seventh conversion as the Sharks claimed a second win out of three.

The Storm continued their perfect start to the season with a 32-2 drubbing of Penrith Panthers.

Dylan Edwards had a night to forget in Bathurst, where Cameron Munster, Brodie Croft, Josh Addo-Carr, Marion Seve and Jesse Bromwich touched down for Craig Bellamy's side.

Manly claimed their first victory of the campaign with an eight-try 46-12 rout of New Zealand Warriors, Daly Cherry-Evans scoring 22 points - including two tries - and Tom Trbojevic also helping himself to a brace.