Plucky Panthers punished by clinical Storm

v BYE

A masterclass from Melbourne's forward pack has paved the way for a big 24-6 win over the Panthers. The Storm frustrated the Panthers for the whole 80 minutes and temporarily moved to the top of the ladder with a win in front of over 11,000 fans. 

Unfortunately for the Panthers despite a very positive start, they were very much strangled out of the first half. Penrith and the Storm opened this one in similar fashion, with both sides coming out displaying positive signs. The Storm would make easy metres, but Penrith struck first out wide through Josh Mansour. Jamie Soward and Nathan Cleary were dominating Penrith's kicking game effectively, yet the ease in which the clinical Melbourne forwards came out of their own end was their undoing.

Jesse Bromwich was the first to benefit for the hosts, scoring from a perfect line ball pass - before Kevin Proctor also crashed over in the 28th minute. Penrith attempted to get back in it, but Melbourne were, as always, too professional, dominating field possession and Ryan Morgan planted a sliding grubber to give his side a safe 16-6 lead at the break.

The Panthers would open the second half in far better terms, dominating field possession. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak would go incredibly close on numerous occasions but the story of the whole game was Melbourne's impressive defence. Melbourne continued to hold out a brave Penrith outfit who tried their guts out and a late try to Cooper Cronk sealed a clinical 24-6 victory.

For the visiting side, Nathan Cleary had an admirable debut with a very solid kicking game and will be better for the run, but in the end he was unable to have much creative input in this one due to Melbourne's superb defence. In the end, Melbourne only missed 12 tackles, whilst Penrith missed a reasonably high 33. Melbourne's forwards really laid the platform here and poor Penrith just couldn't match them unfortunately.

Next week, Penrith battle Manly at the right time with DCE long odds to line up next Sunday at Brookvale, whilst the Storm look to make it 7 straight against the Roosters at Allianz on Saturday night.