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Liam Martin played the game of his life as Penrith became just the third team in premiership history to win four titles in a row with a 14-6 triumph in one of the most intense grand finals of all time which had it all, including a late biting allegation against Cameron Munster.
Both teams were out on their feet after the high-octane clash with Martin scoring one try and setting up another while causing havoc on the right edge as Penrith became the first team to win more than three straight trophies since St George’s 11 straight record-breakers ended their reign in 1966.
Nathan Cleary’s shoulder held firm and he played through the pain as he rolled up his sleeves to mix it with Melbourne’s defence rather than trying to nurse his way through the match.
There was high drama in the closing stages with Munster accused of biting by Paul Alamoti after the Penrith winger reeled out of a tackle on the Storm star clutching at his forearm. It looked similar to the incident which led to Dragons five-eighth Kyle Flanagan copping a four-game ban late in the season and Munster’s chances of representing the Kangaroos in the Pacific Championships are under a huge cloud.
After winning the minor premiership and cruising through their two previous playoff fixtures, Sunday night’s defeat was a bitter way for the Storm’s season to end but they gallantly battled all the way to the final siren.
Penrith have now come full circle in vanquishing Melbourne, the team that brought them to tears in the 2020 grand final and coach Ivan Cleary could not be prouder of the way his players have transformed to become the first team in 58 years to collect four titles in a row.
“I’m just so proud of the boys tonight. The way the game went, how tough it was, it was a great game and a great grand final against a great club and a great opponent. It feels like it validates everything that we’ve done and what we’ve tried to become,” he said.
“I just look at a few of the boys with four rings in their hands and say, how did this happen?”
His son echoed his sentiments by saying he could never have imagined such a drastic turnaround since a more experienced Storm side led by Cameron Smith showed them what was needed to win the biggest game of the year.
“It’s honestly crazy to think that it was four years ago that we were out there and we were the ones crying, losing to that same team. They’ve been a benchmark for so long and then go four straight, it’s honestly unbelievable,” Nathan Cleary said.
“It’s such a great feeling. It’s just so addictive. It’s just the best.”
His co-captain Isaah Yeo said in his acceptance speech that he doesn’t think another team will be able to achieve Penrith’s string of success in the era of the salary cap.
“I’d be surprised just the way the salary cap is. I just feel like we might not be the prettiest team how we’ve played throughout the season but I just feel like our game holds up so much at the back end because of all the little things like we back our defence.”
Cameron Munster speaks to referee Ashley Klein. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
This was the garden of Steeden for rugby league – an intense, skilful contest that will go down as one of the greatest grand finals of all time.
“This is rugby league as good as it gets,” said Andrew Johns on Nine commentary, the Immortal halfback in awe of the athleticism and stamina on display.
The non-stop exchanges were more akin to a high-level Origin game than club footy and both sides pushed each other to the limit with flowing attack up against their respective granite-like defensive lines.
Isaah Yeo went close to opening the scoring, denied by an Eliesa Katoa try-saving tackle.
The momentum swung Melbourne’s way midway through the first half when Paul Alamoti was penalised for a dubious strip penalty which was challenged by the Panthers but there was insufficient video evidence to confirm or deny Ashley Klein’s call weather way.
On the back of the extra set in enemy territory, Storm skipper Harry Grant capitalised to carry James Fisher-Harris and Liam Martin over the line.
Liam Martin celebrates a try with teammates. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Penrith hit back in the 26th minute when a six-again set led to Alamoti creating space for Sunia Turuva to outsprint the cover defence to the cornerpost.
Turuva looked set to put the Panthers in front as he surged onto a Jarome Luai kick a few minutes later but Katoa again came up with a desperation defensive play to jolt the ball free.
With the Panthers dominating possession and the ball in play for all but a couple of minutes of the first half, the Storm defensive wall finally cracked when Cleary ran the ball on the last play, finding Martin motoring into the backfield for a 10-6 lead at the break.
After weathering the storm, Melbourne managed to get an even share of the ball early in the second half and centre Jack Howarth looked like he had equalised in the 49th minute.
He burrowed over after Xavier Coates batted back a bomb but Dylan Edwards and Nathan Cleary managed to get low enough to repel his attempt to get the ball down.
“The ball hits the ground. It’s down,” Johns claimed with gusto on Nine commentary but the vision was inconclusive at best and it looked like the Storm centre’s own arm got in the way of his mission to get the ball down.
With Brian To’o replaced with a knee injury, Alamoti was shunted out to the right wing and after Martin won a bomb and Moses Leota became the unlikely link man, the former Bulldog touched down in the corner to make it 14-6 with 18 minutes left.
With six minutes remaining, Alamoti immediately pointed to his forearm after a tackle on Munster.
Replays showed Munster’s mouth was pressed hard against his arm and referee Ashley Klein placed the incident on report in an unsavoury incident which took some of the gloss off what had been a brilliant grand final.
But nothing could stop the Panthers from powering to the full-time siren to trigger scenes of jubilation as they sent departing trio Jarome Luai, James Fisher-Harris and Sunia Turuva off with another premiership ring.
Nathan Cleary’s shoulder was the most talked about body part in the nation all week but the Penrith halfback lived up to his pre-game promise that he was confident of getting through the most important 80 minutes of 2024.
Storm forward Shawn Blore ran at Cleary in the first set of the game to give his shoulder an early workout.
He passed that test and everything else that Melbourne threw at him to deliver in the big moments.
Cleary had a minor hand in setting up their first try to Sunia Turuva and played a major part in their second one just before the break to Liam Martin.
He relinquished a little more of the playmaking duties than usual to Jarome Luai but he was not gun shy when it came to running the ball into the teeth of the Storm defence 28 times to clock up 205 run metres.
The Storm won the minor premiership on the back of their stingy defence.
And even though they ultimately came up short on the grand final night scoreboard, the Storm’s defensive display was as premiership worthy as you can get without getting to hold the trophy aloft.
Penrith could have scored another three or four tries if not for the Storm’s commitment to preventing the premiers with every fibre of their defensive beings.
“The defence from the Storm, you can’t coach that. It’s just all heart,” Immortal halfback Andrew Johns enthused on Nine commentary.
The Panthers maintained a 57% possession rate for most of the match and while the Storm did a great job in defence, they were gassed in attack on the few occasions when they had the ball in attacking territory.
Nelson Asofa-Solomona’s suspension meant Craig Bellamy had to carry a rookie in Lazarus Vaalepu on the interchange and he did not give him a run until the final 15 minutes, which meant the other 16 Storm players needed to do even more than usual for most of the match. He only got 10 minutes before he was benched.
“We didn’t get into our plan for long enough. It’s not an excuse, they were too good for us tonight. They’re relentless at doing what they know works for them,” Bellamy said.
“To do what they’ve done, five grand finals in a row and four of them they have won. I don’t know whether we’re going to see that too often in our game.”
Harry Grant celebrates with teammates after scoring. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
NRL head of football Graham Annesley addressed the media after the match to show vision which revealed Howarth did not ground the ball.
“When I saw it live I was saying what everyone else was saying, I thought I saw the ball on the ground,” Annesley said.
It’s only when we go back and look at it clearly that you can see the different colour between the arm and the ball.
“The ball is sitting on top of the arm, which then gets lifted up.
“They (the bunker officials) are looking at this over and over again before they announce their decision while we generally have one replay.
“We don’t have time to clinically examine it like this but the bottom line is that the decision was correct.”
Ashley Klein was a contentious choice as referee but the experienced whistleblower got the most important aspect of a grand final right – the tempo.
The worst things you can have when two elite teams are squaring off is for the ref to get too involved, slowing the game down.
But Klein kept the pace flowing by doing very little in the early exchanges unless required. And that set the pace for the match.
Both sides were playing with ultra high discipline, knowing that any unnecessary penalties could prove decisive with the trophy on the line.
There may have been a couple of calls that Klein didn’t get quite right like Scott Sorensen’s leg not being grounded over the sideline when he marked an errant kick-off but with the high-octane pace of the game, there was no time to look back to nitpick decisions because before you knew it the intense contest was on again.
As has become the tradition, the Provan-Summons Trophy was brought into the field pre-game by legends from each club.
Tony Puletua, a member of Penrith’s 2003 title-winning squad, was joined by Greg Inglis.
It was a strange choice to have Inglis represent Melbourne on grand final night for these duties given that the only two times he got his hands on the trophy at the Storm were for premierships that were later stripped from the club due to salary cap rorts.
It’s not like the Storm don’t have other options from premiership-winning teams, the legit ones of 1999, 2012, ‘17 and ‘20.