Why do we ever doubt them? Down by their biggest margin of the year, 14-0, and getting battered in the forwards, it looked like Penrith might unravel.
Of course, they did not. Instead, they turned in perhaps their best showing of the year to win out 34-16, humbling Melbourne in front of a bumper crowd at Marvel Stadium.
Izack Tago was the star, putting in his best performance in first grade to pick up two tries and an assist, repeatedly terrorising the Storm right edge.
His second try, which involved bouncing Will Warbrick into the middle of next week, then straightening up to slice open the line, will live long in the memory. The Melbourne winger left with an HIA and did not return, such was the force of the carry.
This win goes down with the very best in Ivan Cleary’s scrapbook and comes with only one downer, a late injury to Scott Sorensen. The Panthers now sit pretty at the top of the ladder and will likely remain there until the end of the year.
“You’ve got to win in different ways,” said the coach. “It was the opposite of how we wanted to start, I can’t remember us starting a game that badly. Traditionally against Melbourne, they’re fast starters, so it wasn’t looking good there.
“We had to get it together, so to be ahead at half time – I can’t believe how we did it. Sometimes you miss the jump and other teams start better than you and you have to work it out.”
Melbourne actually had the same record as Penrith coming in, but they were a distant second best here. They threw the kitchen sink early on, got to a lead, but then barely left their half as the stranglehold was applied. Craig Bellamy watched on in disbelief.
“We stopped doing the things that we were doing early,” he said. “We stopped competing in some areas and you pay the price.
“They’ve been the top side in the comp for three years and they haven’t got there by luck. We took our foot off and, for that last 55 minutes, we hardly got down their end.
“It all dissolved after 25 minutes. They’re too good a side to play like that and expect to stay in the game. We got what we deserved tonight, we need to learn from it and move on.”
The Panthers system has been much lauded over the last few years, but it can’t have had many better months than this one just passed.
They’ve been missing players due to Origin, injury and everything else, but have lost just once in the last eight, and that was in Golden Point away in Townsville. It’s an astounding run.
Tonight was the best example of it yet: they went behind 14-0 to Melbourne in Melbourne, previously a death sentence. The Storm were great value for their lead, too. They were battering the Panthers.
Yet there was no sense of panic, no deviation from the plan. This team knows what it does, and does it through all the grades, so even the guys who’ve never been here before are aware of where they sit in the system.
Gradually, unerringly, the momentum changed and the Panthers got their roll on. Once they got going, it was only going to end one way.
The most impressive thing, other than the collective effort, is that the standout individuals are totally unheralded characters.
Lindsay Smith and Jack Cogger, in particular, were excellent examples of blokes who kill it in reggies and are grabbing their chance in the top grade. It’s all Cleary, though: the reason they can be so good is because they know exactly what their role is and are empowered to act within in.
It’s not the ‘next man up’ idea that Melbourne have. It’s square pegs in square holes. That might sound the same, but it’s not: Penrith excel because the system does the thinking for the players. ‘Just do your job’ is a cliche, but it works. Just watch the Panthers.
Make no mistake, Melbourne had Penrith rattled. For half an hour, they did everything to make the Panthers look listless, and, for the first time in years, soft.
Nelson Asofa-Solomona was dominating James Fisher-Harris and Moses Leota twice dropped the ball ahead of contact. These things don’t happen.
They made it count, too, with two tries that reflected their dominance. Nobody could have said the Storm weren’t value for their lead.
But that’s just one reading. Another might be that, for all their aggression and effort, they actually struggled to turn it into meaningful points.
Though they did score two tries, the first was from a charge down and the second, politely, was highly debatable and, on another day, could have been disallowed with no complaint.
OK, effort plays are great, and the Asofa-Solomona try is in the books now, but here’s the rub: they never broke the Panthers line. Across 80 minutes, the Storm managed two line breaks.
One was that Nelson try, the other was a charge from Tom Eisenhuth that was snuffed out before it really began. Beyond that, nothing.
Penrith are a supreme defensive team and, even at their most dominant, Melbourne’s attack barely troubled them.
Cam Munster, just like in their defeat to Souths, was totally absent. Harry Grant did well for the first but receded and the same could be said for Jahrome Hughes once the second try was scored.
Melbourne’s attack often boils down to those three creating, everyone else servicing. Usually, that will be fine, but against the best of the best, it’s putting a lot of pressure on three blokes.
That might be the undoing come the end of the year. Against a peak Penrith and a peak Souths – and maybe, yet, Brisbane – it’s unlikely to be enough.
Pickett
Roar Rookie
No challengers for them this year. I thought Melbourne might, but no.
Albo
Roar Rookie
There just enough spots for Blacker to get a run. Fish and Leota have the prop starting spots their own, with Leniu, Smith , and Eisenhuth the bench and replacement spots. Liam Henry is next off the rank, then Blacker . Only a mess of middle third injuries would change that.
Panthers
Roar Rookie
They said the same about Munster before the game. Looking terrible. Why play him?
Panthers
Roar Rookie
NSW should have been doing the same.
London Panther
Roar Rookie
Agree with both of these Jimmy; the kicker is being protected more and I have no issue with that. Obviously on the wrong side of it last night but medium term great for the panthers as roughing up Nathan seems to be the only game plan that the Storm and Rabbits (and QLD) have seemed to have over recent years when playing him.
London Panther
Roar Rookie
Panthers, Eddie is a physical specimen, but I just don’t think he is as good as either Spencer or Lindsay. Will probably be competing with Liam Henry to replace Spencer next year, but at the moment Liam seems to have the trust of the coaching staff.
London Panther
Roar Rookie
Of the 5 tries Penrith scored, the one before the break had a great deal of luck. The kicks in behind the line is what they should have been trying all year with opposition defences seemingly in their faces the whole game. Want to continue to see more of it!!
London Panther
Roar Rookie
Munster looked like a guy that had been sick all week. Having a fit Munster and hopefully a fit Paps back (as a league supporter) and Melbourne will go alright in attack. Their problem is the bench; Penrith’s bench killed them last night.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
I don’t know if Melbourne played badly they just got hammered into submission.. like a Royal Rumble they all got flung over the top rope.
zonecadet
Roar Rookie
Munster is an unorthodox player, on that we all agree, but he's playing a position that, more often that not, requires orthodoxy - get the ball eventually out to Coates, at least every now and again. Pezet has shown he can play that role and, in limited action, has shown he is not over-awed by NRL play. Play him in no.6 and put Munster at fullback, where he can have free reign to make it up as he goes. This is in no way a slight on Meaney, who has been outstanding in place of Paps. It would b interesting to see this trialled over the coming weeks for I feel the Storm has to do something different with this line-up.
steveng
Roar Rookie
If there was a team that showed and looked like it can win every game and the GF in 2023 in the first 30 of a game, it was most definitely the Melbourne Storm BUT BUT BUT a footy game doesn't only go for 30min :laughing: as after that it went from bad to worse to pathetic, this is the worst performance I've seen from a team that was so dominant to being totally outplayed in a game this year.
Full Credit to the Boys
Roar Rookie
There is a potential for this Penrith team to be even stronger than the last two years. They have had to adjust to losing pivotal players like Kikau and Api, plus 2 important coaches. It may well be that the adaption process is on an upward trajectory which is pretty frightening.
Panthers
Roar Rookie
What do you think the reason is that Eddie Blacker doesn’t get a run in first grade? For various reasons the NSW Cup team hasn’t been as good this year, but not sure that it’s any of his fault? Is it that they don’t plan to keep him after this season? Which would also be disappointing, as he offers plenty of size , hard runs & offloads. Also be disappointing to see him also go to a Parramatta, Bulldogs etc…
Tetley
Roar Rookie
In a season where teams are rising and falling regularly the Panthers are pretty much a constant. They’re strong. I don’t know if they’re as strong as they were but they’re definitely lining up another title. I can see a few teams on their best days matching it with them. The Cows seem to be on the up and I reckon their best footy could topple the Panthers. Ditto Souths and Parra. But those clubs are wildly inconsistent. Be interesting to see who their real challenger is a few weeks time.
Panthers
Roar Rookie
The second Leota drop ball was due to the ball being kneed out of his hands by Tariq Sims. Melbourne were doing very well early. Getting up very quickly in defence. Including Grant for the charge down try. Munster was a passenger for the whole game & Bellamy should think twice about playing someone who’s not well at all. Hope he wasn’t spreading Covid around? Don’t think there was luck in the kick tries , other than Smith getting the kick back from a Storm defender that the ball had bounced against. The pass he did was fantastic. The other few from kicks were just good thinking, putting the ball into space . Where the only players getting the ball were Panthers. The penalty try, don’t grab someone who’s in front of you to stop them getting to the ball. Hope they are now encouraging more second phase play from offloads at Penrith. Smith & Blacker had been doing plenty in NSW Cup , for a couple of seasons. After the Storm’s initial onslaught. It wasn’t just unstructured play that the Storm weren’t handling well. The Penrith backs were then finding easy metres for a lot of good runs. Cogger has been doing well. You still wouldn’t wish to depend on his long kicking game too much. The long kicks aren’t long enough.
langparker
Roar Rookie
Storm started with great intensity but it seems the difference to me compared to Melbourne in the years when they dominated is the drop in standards from the bench. That last 60 minutes was akin to the cowboys game. Bellamy said putrid then & a bit of their play last night, despite a few lucky bounces that happen to everyone, was just ordinary. The backline as a whole doesn’t read play well & shut down offloads. On their day, they’ll get away with it but I reckon they got ahead of themselves at 14-0.
Panthers
Roar Rookie
Apologies, should have been Asofa-Solomona.
kk
Roar Pro
The MM Wood explanatory lessons are great pleasures. Should the Penrith system should be installed at every NRL club? Recruiting the right players skilful, durable and mentally tough enough to 'do the job' is the hard part. Add Parra to your three for the finals.
Nat
Roar Guru
That was a really good effort by the Panthers. As good as they have played in some time. Tago was an absolute beast and probably the difference that brought the Panthers back in the game. While there was a fair bit of luck in the Melbourne tries, let's not pretend there wasn't the same for the Panthers. You could sense the frustration in Bellamy at the end of the game. 32 missed tackles in the 2nd half, no ball and no field position it was very unlike a Storm team. For mine, it was more that the Storm don't like unstructured play, much like when they play Parra. When things get messy they fall out of shape. Throw in a few lucky kicks, bounces and ricochets and they score blew out quickly.
Albo
Roar Rookie
The Panthers have a poor record against the Storm over their history, but in recent times this is now turning around. Since the 2020 Grand Final when the Panthers put in their worst 40 minutes of football that year to go down 26-20 to the Storm,, the Panthers have had a 4-2 winning record over the Storm and both those losses were with very undermanned teams. Last night the Storm went with the Panthers for 25 minutes but when the Panthers cut out their early errors they soon got their game going and finished over the top of the Storm. It was obvious that Munster was not at his best, but Grant and Hughes worked tirelessly. For the Panthers Cogger had another good game as the Cleary understudy and was cool with his kicking game and defended well against targetting Storm titans. Tago had another terrific game following up from the Knights match last week. Leniu , Lyndsey Smith and Zac Hosking are the perfect benchman who offer a special dimension to the Panthers game. They can maintain control and defence or lift the tempo as required. The Panthers back 5 are integral in gaining yardage to start the sets, and the starting pack are as good as any in the NRL.