Grand final revenge on the Panthers' menu this Thursday night

This Thursday night, to kick off Round 3 of the 2021 NRL season, the Penrith Panthers and Melbourne Storm will face off for the first time since last year’s grand final.

It is a match the Panthers may want to forget in the short-term, but could prove beneficial in the long-term, especially if they advance to the first Sunday of October this year.

Ivan Cleary’s shell-shocked team trailed 22-0 at halftime and then fell behind by 26-0 minutes into the second half, but they weren’t going to throw in the towel just yet, pegging back four tries as they attempted to pull off the greatest comeback in a decider in NRL history.

But the mountain men would ultimately fall short of glory, losing 26-20 to mark a bitter ending to a season of domination that had seen them lose just one match during the regular season – against the Parramatta Eels in Round 5.

The Panthers’ disappointing ending to 2020 mirrored that of the Eels in 2001, in which Parramatta had dominated the regular season, yet failed to fire in the match that mattered most, only waking up in the second half, when the match was out of reach.

Unbeknownst at the time, for Storm captain Cameron Smith, who scored a try in a grand final for the first and only time in his career, it was the perfect ending to a record-breaking career which saw him rack up over 400 NRL games and over 30 Origins for Queensland.

Perhaps the first sign that the end of his career came when he was chaired off Suncorp Stadium following the Storm’s preliminary final win against the Canberra Raiders, for what was to be his final NRL game in the sunshine capital.

In the weeks and months that followed the Storm’s premiership win last year, which ranked as their greatest considering the circumstances they were faced with in the second half of last season, speculation grew as to whether he’d play on or hang up the boots.

Then, two weeks ago, Smith put an end to the speculation by announcing his retirement from the sport, a day before the Storm’s season-opening match against the South Sydney Rabbitohs at AAMI Park.

His (now) old club began the post-Smith era with a brilliant 26-18 win over the Bunnies, but were outslogged 16-12 by the Parramatta Eels at Bankwest Stadium last Thursday night in atrocious Sydney weather.

Storm enforcer Felise Kaufusi considered himself lucky not to be sent off or sin-binned for a dangerous tackle on Ryan Matterson, but is facing at least a two-week suspension for an incident that appeared ugly on replay.

Referee Ashley Klein places Felise Kaufusi of the Storm on report (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

It may be the first setback in the Storm’s 2021 season, but as we have seen over the past two decades, it won’t be one of too many.

They also still have hooker Harry Grant to return from a knee injury with his comeback from that slated for Round 4.

Craig Bellamy’s side will be on the road again for the second consecutive week when they face the Panthers, who have so far not yet shown any mental or psychological scars from last year’s grand final defeat.

In fact, it has only spurred them on to start this season strongly.

Ivan Cleary’s side have become the first team in over a hundred years of rugby league history in Australia to win their first two matches without conceding a single point, already announcing themselves as serious contenders for this year’s title.

First, they defeated the Cowboys by 24-0 before going up a notch in the wet Sydney weather last Saturday afternoon, blanking the Bulldogs 28-0 at Bankwest Stadium.

It was also the third consecutive non-finals match in which they have kept their opposition to nil, after thrashing the Dogs 42-0 in the final round at Stadium Australia last year. All up, in their past three regular season matches, they have outscored their opposition 94-0, including a 70-0 aggregate score over the Dogs.

(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

But they could be without Nathan Cleary for the grand final rematch after he was floored by Bulldogs winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak in the final ten minutes of Saturday’s game, an incident which saw the ex-Panther sin-binned and facing at least a two-week suspension.

Should Cleary be ruled out, it will give Matt Burton the chance to deputise at halfback, as he did when Cleary was suspended for a COVID breach arising from a TikTok video that went viral during last season’s COVID-enforced season suspension.

Burton famously missed five field goals in a match against the Knights in Round 3 last season – they were the only side that the Panthers failed to beat in 2020. Conversely, the Knights were the only side that failed to beat the 15th-placed Bulldogs.

Regardless of whether Cleary plays or not, the Panthers, who sit second on the ladder only behind the Sydney Roosters, should start favourites in Thursday night’s clash , which will be played in front of a 75 per cent capacity crowd at Panthers Stadium.

Having blanked the Cowboys and Bulldogs – two teams unlikely to feature in September this year – in the first two rounds, the showdown against the Storm will be the mountain men’s first genuine test of their premiership credentials in 2021.

For the Storm, it will be their third consecutive Thursday night match to start the season, which also means for the second consecutive week they’ll be up against an AFL match in the battle for television ratings in Victoria.

With the NRL having a one week’s head start on the AFL, the Storm’s season-opening match against the Rabbitohs rated strongly on Channel Nine in Melbourne, but their match against the Eels was outrated by the Richmond-Carlton AFL season opener last week.

As far as the match is concerned, we can expect nothing less than a cracking match between last year’s grand finalists to kick off Round 3 of the 2021 NRL season.

Round 3 around the league
•The Dragons to start favourites to defeat the bottom-placed Sea Eagles in the twilight match on Friday night
•Arch-rivals the Roosters and Rabbitohs go head-to-head for the first time since the Bunnies’ 60-8 demolition at Stadium Australia on September 25 last year – exactly two decades after Cathy Freeman captured the gold medal in the 400m race at the Sydney Olympics
•The Canberra Raiders welcome the New Zealand Warriors to the nation’s capital
•Last year’s bottom two teams, the Brisbane Broncos and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, clash at Suncorp Stadium
•The Parramatta Eels start favourites when they welcome the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks to Bankwest Stadium
•The Newcastle Knights look to start the season 3-0 when they face the Wests Tigers at home
•The Gold Coast Titans attempt to make it two straight wins against Queensland opposition when they travel to Townsville to face the win-less North Queensland Cowboys.