Penrith has defeated fellow premierships contenders Melbourne by 26-6 in a clinical display at BlueBet Stadium tonight.
After initially letting in the first try of the night, Penrith poured on three tries in 16 minutes to effectively take the game away from the visitors by halftime.
It was their skipper Nathan Cleary who was the architect with a dominant kicking display and also having a hand in three Panthers tries to send a message out to the competition that he has put his Origin disappointment behind him as he looks for a third premiership ring.
It was a disappointing performance for Melbourne who lost both halfback Jahrome Hughes and winger Xavier Coates prior to kickoff, but it was their uncharacteristic ill discipline that cost them, particularly in the first half where they conceded a whopping eight penalties.
Penrith opened the scoring through a penalty, when Marion Seve checked the run of Scott Sorenson chasing a kick. Cleary pointed to the posts and took the two points on offer to open their account.
From the ensuing kickoff Penrith spread the ball wide, which was then knocked on by makeshift centre Zac Hosking and the ball was picked up in an offside position. Nick Meaney returned serve and tied the scoreline at 2 all with a penalty from in front.
Melbourne then silenced the home crowd, when Young Tonumaipea found a retreating Panthers defensive line to score the opening try of the game and take an early 6-2 lead.
Penrith managed to camp themselves on the Storm line and were finally rewarded when NSW winger Brian To'o found himself on the back of a familiar Panthers backline play to dive over in the corner to level the scores after 25 minutes. Penrith then took the game up a gear minutes later, when Cleary saw the Storm were short on numbers down the short side to create enough space for Jarome Luai to score. Cleary converted from out wide to give the home side a 12-6 lead.
As the halftime break approached the Storm then gave away their sixth penalty for the match, for an accidental crusher tackle from Josh King. Nathan Cleary took the gift two points to extend the Panthers lead to 14-6. Then just as the halftime break approached, the Panthers made the Storm pay for their seventh penalty, when Nathan Cleary put Stephen Crichton over in the corner to give them a 20-6 lead at halftime.
The second half continued the theme of poor discipline from Melbourne, which was followed by a Panthers counter attack, when To'o scored his second try which again occurred through some quick hands from his inside men. While Melbourne were much better in the second half, the pressure from the Panthers defence was relentless and the Storm were continually left frustrated as they failed to find a way to break through.
Penrith have a minor headache from the win, with two try hero Brian To'o looking to have a minor pectoral injury, but other than that they came through unscathed ahead of their Thursday night clash with Manly in Round 24. Melbourne will return to AAMI Park against their bogey side Canberra as they look to keep their Top 4 hopes alive with just a month left in the regular season.