Melbourne take revenge in epic GF rematch as Penrith lose Cleary

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Melbourne Storm v Penrith Panthers

In an epic grand final rematch between the Melbourne Storm and the Penrith Panthers, the Storm scraped home with a 30-24 verdict as the Panthers battled without halfback Nathan Cleary who was concussed in the 8th minute.

The game had a frantic feel early as Penrith started on the backfoot. Off a cheap yardage penalty, the Storm worked down the short side and got the first try of the contest after five minutes. It was a great ball from Ryan Papenhuyzen that saw Grant Anderson step inside the Penrith left edge defence to score the opening try of the contest.

The game's turning point happened in the corresponding set. A high ball was allowed to bounce, Nathan Cleary then launched himself at the ball and the adjacent Jahrome Hughes. Cleary landed worse for wear and was deemed to be suffering from a Cat 1 concussive incident and would not return. This thrusted club debutant Blaize Talagi into the hot seat.

Initially, the Panthers struggled to settle to their new changes. Once the dust settled, the Storm crossed for a second try off another late tackle count penalty against the Panthers. Munster kicked early in the set and it was in the arms of Eliesa Katoa to score for the Storm. Nick Meaney added a penalty goal as the Panthers early discipline woes intensified to trail 14-0.

Penrith forced some pressure and a cheap Melbourne error which gave the Panthers some possession inside the opposition 20 and hit back in style 13 minutes before the break. It was great shape out to the right hand side which saw Jack Cole combine with Thomas Jenkins and Izack Tago with the latter holding up the pass brilliantly to Paul Alamoti who scored out wide.

Five minutes later, it was a case of rinsing and repeating as the same players combined to send Alamoti over for his second. This time, the makeshift kicker Alamoti nailed the conversion to keep the Panthers in touch. The carnage continued before the break when the returning Nelson Asofa-Solomona collided with Nick Meaney which left the latter with a suspected fractured jaw. With that news in tow, the grand finallists went into the break at 14-10.

From the scrum four minutes into the second half, Melbourne failed to execute in defence and Casey McLean crosses, exploding off a Tom Jenkins pass and they can take the lead in a moment. Four minutes later, it took a great kick under pressure from Munster to allow Xavier Coates to fly over the top of several Panthers defenders to slam the football down.

With Melbourne's outside backs dropping like flies with Anderson leaving the game with a knee injury. The middle needed to stand-up and they delivered with a nice 1-2 combo with Tui Kamikamica and Alec MacDonald getting the Storm within inches of the line. On the ensuing play, a beautiful pass from Hughes found Tyran Wishart and the young Mr Fix It crossed out wide. Penrith capitalised on some poor discipline and handling from the home team to get to within a possession of the Storm. Some great set play saw the Panthers move left and Brian To'o crosses in the left corner.

Penrith failed to complete their set after points and the wheels of the Melbourne machine entered over drive. Munster again had it on a silver platter with a pinpoint grubber and who else but the flying mullet of the one, the only Papenhuyzen to make it a two possession game.

Penrith refused to give up and got the game back to within one possession as To'o avenged his moment from last week and trucked the Storm defence to make it a one possession game. Despite some frantic final moments, Melbourne got their revenge in an epic arm-wrestle.