The pinnacle of the game for many, the Australian Grand Final, pitted Melbourne Storm against the Penrith Panthers in a rerun of the 2020 final which saw Melbourne the victors before three consecutive wins for Penrith as they have dominated the game in recent seasons.
Melbourne had been installed as slight favourites with the bookies but with just a two-point handicap on the coupon there was clearly very little to choose between the sides who finished first and second at the end of the regular season.
The Accor Stadium in Sydney was the venue for the encounter, almost a home game for the Penrith side and their supporters, as Australia ground to a standstill for a Sunday evening of high entertainment.
The game set off at one hundred miles an hour, both side setting out their stalls that they were there to win the game.
It took twenty-two minutes of battle before Melbourne took the lead, Harry Grant scooting from dummy half, feigning to pass, and darting between two tackles to drop over the line for the try. Nick Meaney added the conversion for a 6-0 lead, a settler for the Storm.
The Panthers struck back on twenty-seven, fast hands allowing Paul Alamoti to pass to Sunia Turuva who ran the angle to dive in at the corner. Nathan Cleary was unable to add the touchline conversion, Penrith back within two.
A brilliant tackle from Eliesa Katoa prevented Turuva from getting his second try in three minutes as he dislodged the ball on the try line after a terrible Ryan Papenhuyzen error in putting the kick-off out on the full, piled the pressure back on Melbourne.
Sixty second from the interval it was the Panthers who took the lead when Nathan Cleary put Liam Martin through a gap on the Melbourne ten metre line to run the angle and dove over in the right corner. Cleary hit the mark with the conversion for a 10-6 lead at half time. A sensational game.
Melbourne had a try ruled out on forty-eight as the video referee agreed with the on-field official that the ball had not been grounded, despite the video replays appearing to show the contrary.
A mix up in the Melbourne defence on the hour mark led to the third Penrith try. A high kick from Cleary was taken and passed back before Leota put in a great pass to Alamoti to sprint for the corner and dive in for a one-handed try in the corner. Cleary was wide with the conversion, his side with some breathing space and an eight-point advantage.
Five sets in a row up to the seventieth minute resulted in zero points for Melbourne, the phenomenal Penrith defence thwarting the onslaught. Melbourne couldn’t get the points that they needed to make a game of it, Penrith striding to victory.
A fourth consecutive Grand Final win for Penrith Panthers secures their position as the best side in the world and writes their name large in history as the first side to win four on the bounce side the dominant St George side of the later fifties and early sixties. Melbourne gave their all but Penrith were in control of the game from the time that they regained the lead and they never looked in any danger of losing.
Melbourne Storm: Papenhuyzen, Warbrick, Howarth, Meaney (1/1 G), Coates, Munster, Hughes, Kamikamica, Grant (T), King, Blore, Katoa, Loiero. Subs: Wishart, Welch, Vaalepu, MacDonald. 18th Man: Anderson.
Penrith Panthers: Edwards, Turuva (T), Tago, Alamoti (T), To’o, Luai, Cleary (1/3 G), Leota, Kenny, Fisher-Harris, Martin (T), Sorensen, Yeo. Subs: Garner, Schneider, Smith, Henry. 18th Man: Eisenhuth.
Half-Time: 6-10.
Full-Time: 6-14.
Score Progression: 4-0, 6-0, 6-4, 6-8, 6-10 : HT: 6-14 :FT.
Lead Exchanges: Melbourne - Penrith.
Referee: Ashley Klein.
Attendance: 80,156.
