The Melbourne Storm raced out to a 26-0 lead, before serving a late comeback by the Penrith Panthers to claim their third legitimate premiership under Craig Bellamy with a 26-16 win.
On a cold and wet night in Sydney, it was Nathan Cleary and the Panthers who kicked off first and the match got off to an incredible start. with Cleary’s kick bounced towards the touchline and Justin Olam elected to pick it up, having to hastily offload it after being dragged towards touch, eventually resulting in a Melbourne knock-on and Penrith scrum deep in attack.
But it was an Apisai Koroisau knock-on a few minutes later that would lead to the first chance of the game. Melbourne spread it quickly to the left wing on the ensuing set, with Josh Addo-Carr sending a pass into to Olam, who had the ball kicked out his hands by Tyrone May on the way down.
It went to the video referee, but the penalty try was awarded – giving the Storm the early 6-0 lead.
Olam knocked it on from the first set afterwards however, and Josh Mansour looked to have made them pay deep in the corner, but the video referee called it back after pinging Stephen Crichton for obstruction.
Penrith got some repeat sets deep in Melbourne territory at around the 15-minute mark, but the closest they got was being held up just over the try line. Despite dominating possession for most of the opening portion of the half, and boasting big leads in run metres and set completion, the minor premiers just couldn’t penetrate the Storm defence.
Then, with Melbourne in possession, Penrith got caught offside and Cameron Smith took the opportunity to put two more on the board. Smith added two more barely five minutes later after James Fisher-Harris was penalised for a late hit.
The highlight of the first half came soon after, however, with Nathan Cleary throwing a very loose and speculative pass towards the left wing that Suliasi Vunivalu had no trouble intercepting. He did well to escape the clutches of Josh Mansour, before running the length of the field to score a massive try.
Things started to unravel for the Panthers from there, with Villame Kikau called for a contentious knock-on in the 34th minute and, while nothing came of that, they were guilty of a forward pass inside their own territory a few minutes later.
Then, on the stroke of half time, Cameron Smith had the ball knocked out of his grasp one metre out, but simply scooped it up and crossed under the goalposts to put the game just about out of reach before the break.
It was the Storm who’d make the first error of the second half, with an errant pass in their own half rolling close to the touchline and being knocked on by Josh Addo-Carr when he desperately tried to retrieve it.
But, in a play symbolic of the evening, Moses Leota knocked it on in the next set, the Panthers wasted a challenge on the call and then gave up a long-running try to Ryan Papenhuyzen on the scrum.
It was an arm wrestle for the next 15 minutes, before Penrith got their first try of the evening despite the bunker clearly getting a basic obstruction call wrong. Isaah Yeo ran around the back of Kurt Capewell and kicked it to the touchline, with Brian To’o gathering it close to the line and grounding it.
That looked be as good as it would get for the Panthers, with numerous errors and silly penalties seemingly dooming any chance of a fightback.
But the Storm had taken their foot off the pedal too – much to the fury of Craig Bellamy. After another ten minutes of fairly ordinary footy, Stephen Crichton bowled past Brenko Lee to cross and give the Panthers life.
The drama wasn’t over yet, with Jahrome Hughes sin-binned for a professional foul on Villame Kikau close to the line, giving Penrith a one-man advantage for the remainder of the game.
But the Panthers weren’t able to take advantage, with a crucial late knock-on by Dylan Edwards in defence essentially sealing Penrith’s fate.
Nathan Cleary scored a great consolation try late, but they had just three seconds on the clock to get the job done after the kick-off and, despite making the last play entertaining, weren’t able to do so.
Penrith Panthers – 20
Melbourne Storm – 26
Tries
Panthers: To’o 56′, Crichton 69′, Cleary 80′
Storm: Olam 4′, Vunivalu 31′, Smith 40′, Papenhuyzen 46′
Goals
Panthers: Cleary 2/3 56′, 70′
Storm: C. Smith 5/6 5′, 23′, 27′, 32′, 40′
Field goals
Panthers: –
Storm: –
Rob
Guest
Shaun Berrigan and Luke Priddis are the only 2 players deserving of the GOAT tag. Does (7 )SOO MOM's over 10 years or golden boots count.
Rob
Guest
Pretty much how i saw it. I'm not a Sutton fan but I don't think there was anything to crucify the on field ref about except he probably gave Panthers the benefit of most calls late. The Bunker embarrassed the contest with the Panthers first try.
Joe
Roar Rookie
Especially with the backline they're likely going to line up with, he will pretty much be the senior player with DCE.
matth
Roar Guru
To be fair to Brenko, with the way the QLD side’s went this year, plus mountains of injuries, I believe I could end up as 18th man.
matth
Roar Guru
Here the question. Should Munster pull out of Origin and get fixed? As just about the last man standing for QLD the pressure on him to play busted must be huge.
Nick
Roar Guru
He'll deny he ever wrote it. Fake news!
JGK
Roar Guru
He couldn’t move towards Yeo and therefore attempt to tackle or to the kick because Capewell was there for a period.
Greg
Roar Pro
Congratulations to Storm, the better team on the night won. They had a lot of luck go their way in the first half. But it takes more than luck. You need to be good enough to take full advantage of it, which they were. Great to see Papenhuzen receive the Churchill. Often the best player is overlooked in favour of the best story, which I'm glad wasn't the case tonight. Another notch in Smith's belt. Goat or not (which I think is a bit of silly discussion anyway given different roles of positions and eras) if he does retire, which seems more than likely, he deserves to go out a winner. Although, I will miss him as the villain.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Very much There was a period towards the end of the first half, Storm must have been up 20-0. Panthers went right and almost scored. Storm players came from everywhere and stopped the try. They immediately went left and Mansour looked like he was in...until three Melbourne defenders got there Papenhuyzen’s athleticism to keep the kick for touch in the field of play was brilliant...but he also sprinted 30 metres to get there to put himself in position as soon as he noticed Cleary was taking the quick kick Great example of hard work making brilliance happem
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
Thank you, Renegade. Respect.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
Hughes is a strong little bugger as well.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
Don’t you wish the players in your own club put in the same amount of energy and effort into every single play with the professionalism that these guys have..
Renegade
Roar Guru
Phil Gould wrote an article 5 months ago predicting Melbourne were done. The headline was something along the lines of “the storm are no longer the same team”.. the decline had begun, etc, etc.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
Munster ? Not even slightly inconvenienced by that chain of events. He stood in a barren plot of space with his hands in the air, distanced from the kicker and T’oo. Have another look. According to the letter of the law as its written, that was a try..bunker called no defender inconvenienced, didn’t look good, and will be interested to hear Annesley’s take.
Joe
Roar Rookie
Munster definitely has not been himself and looks to be struggling with the knee injury. Hughes really stood up big time through the finals series.
Joe
Roar Rookie
Just 1 year under Craig and journeyman Brenko Lee makes the Origin squad...although Craig did take his time with Paps who took two years to get there! :stoked:
JGK
Roar Guru
Munster was clearly prevented from being able to get to Yeo before he kicked because Capewell was in between them.
Rellum
Roar Guru
If Bellyache goes after next year 2023 is the year you might finally see that slide.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
Huge amount of pressure on Nathan Cleary and he wasn't himself for most of the game which is a great pity. I wonder if Munster is playing injured because he isn't the dominant force he used to be but still a fine player. Mansour looked to have a good chance to score when he was chasing a kick thru but ignored the ball and played the man when a try would have turned the game right around. The one thing about the Storm that bemuses me to an extent is Kenny Bromwich running wide like a centre. He's not much chop in that roll at all I believe. I reckon Cameron Smith already knows what he'll be doing next year but wanted it to be about the game itself and not his last game.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Great comment The Storm have had some pretty monumental premiership wins...the first one in 99, the “comeback” title in 2012, 2017 where they were one of the great all time teams But with everything they’ve been through this year, it’s arguably their greatest triumph They do embarrass the rest of the comp. there’s never any excuses. They aim up year after year. There’s no “give us a couple of years off, we’re rebuilding”