NRL grand final 2024: Penrith Panthers defeat Melbourne Storm – as it happened | NRL

Summary

The catwalk of champions ends with Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo. The latter takes the mic to thank fans and sponsors. The pair then accept the Provan-Summons Trophy from Andrew Abdo and Peter V’landys, taking it over to their teammates and raising it to the sky for the fourth time in a row!

A dejected Harry Grant says the right things when he’s invited to speak. Then it’s over to the most heartwarming passage of the night, when the massive footballers accept their premiership rings from kids barely a quarter of their mass.

Liam Martin wins the Clive Churchill medal

Nathan Cleary goes around the Melbourne team slapping backs and shaking hands. The Storm were below par tonight, a reflection perhaps of the lack of experience on the biggest of stages? Crucial errors, especially in the first half from the kind of players that drove them throughout the season, proved extremely costly and left too much to do when energy reserves were low.

Penrith, by contrast, relished the big stage, upping the intensity as fatigue set in, backing their skills in clinch moments, and their capacity not to make errors made life too difficult for the Storm. Leota, Martin, Edwards, Yeo, and Cleary all excelled, powering their footy club into immortality.

Jahrome Hughes is barely audible he’s so dejected. “Just a bit loose in our contact,” he murmurs. “They got too many quick play-the-balls and you can’t give a team like Penrith anything or they run.

“They’re the best and we’ve seen that the last couple of years. They’re so hard to beat. I don’t know, you need to be on your game for the full 80 to beat them and if you’re not they’re too good and they showed that tonight.

“It was a tough game. Obviously, they’re a great team and they’ve been the best the last couple of years for a reason.”

“I can’t believe it,” beams Liam Martin – a Clive Churchill contender. “It is a dream come true with this bunch. I’m still pinching myself. Can’t believe it.

“I don’t know, it’s just unspoken, I guess. Like, that was tough. That was so hard but we kept turning up for one another and that is it the character of the boys we have here and so special to be part of a group like this.”

“Left on a good note. Left on a good note,” exhales a dazed Jarome Luai. “History doesn’t matter. We’re soaking up this moment. Just to win one grand final is so special. This group of guys, no-one works harder than these boys and we got what we deserved.

We did it brah.”

“What an incredible club. Not so long ago the Roosters were lauded for winning two in a row after so many years of single season winners. And that is now 4 in a row for this incredible Panthers club. Sensational stuff.” Hear hear HarryofOz.

Astonishing. They rarely hit top gear during the premiership season. They had to cope without their star man for long periods. That star man played hurt during the finals – and he ran for 200m in the decider! Set after set in attack and defence they were relentless for 80 minutes. What a team.

Full-time: Melbourne Storm 6-14 Penrith Panthers

79 mins: Penrith win a set restart 5m from Melbourne’s line. Smith then drops a soda, not that it matters.

77 mins: Penrith are going to win a fourth premiership in a row. Incredible dedication and resilience from everyone at the football club.

76 mins: Penrith are turning the screw now. Relentless in possession, offering Melbourne nothing. Then fast off the line in defence, suffocating the Storm at source. Melbourne try to go through hands deep in their own half, but nothing is materialising in broken play with purple jerseys exhausted and pink ones in full flight.

75 mins: A rare break in play for the bunker to determine if Munster, the ball carrier, bit Alamoti, the tackler, while the pair were in close contact on the ground. There’s no clear cut evidence but the Storm half is put on report.

74 mins: Penrith go down the other end and Smith travels a long way after contact to force Melbourne to scramble. Storm barely make halfway, let alone the 95m they need to score a try.

72 mins: The Panthers grind either side of halfway and Coates accepts the kick 10m out and runs to the 20. Can his ball-players unlock this Penrith defence? Nope. Katoa and Loiero run hard, but there’s no creativity or inspiration, then on the last Munster kicks high and the ball dribbles into touch. Storm challenge and replays indicate Alamoti might have got a finger to the ball before it hit touch – only for the TMO to determine Coates knocked the ball on. The bunker have come up Penrith’s way a couple of times this half at crucial moments.

70 mins: Storm come again from 20m, but it’s all very narrow and linear. Grant almost dives over from dummy half but Melbourne need to expand. Still it’s all one-out stuff – until tackle four – and Howarth, who is not having a great grand final, tries to go outside Tago, only to be scragged and then bundled into touch by Alamoti and Cleary. That felt like a real show of force from the Panthers defence.

69 mins: Yes! Harry Grant dashes from dummy half and earns a set restart 40m out. Lazarus Vaalepu carries strongly just after coming on and nears the try line. Is there an opening? Not yet: Munster’s grubber is blocked out of play by Cleary.

67 mins: Storm need a miracle at the other end though, but one does not appear forthcoming as they gasp for air running one-out then kicking on the last. It’s meat and drink for Penrith who absorb the pressure in midfield and grind their way downfield. Every set is draining fuel from the Melbourne tank. Can they find a spark?

66 mins: Storm withstand another full Penrith set in their own defensive territory. Kenny, Martin, Sorensen, all went close, but Melbourne’s miraculous defence holds.

64 mins: Far from To’o’s absence causing an issue, it was his replacement, Alamoti, moving from left centre to right wing, who finished superbly to put Penrith in a dominant position.

Just as I type that, To’o is back on the bench ready to return… and Munster spills the ball. Storm need a serious game changing moment soon if they’re going to remain alive in this grand final.

TRY! Melbourne Storm 6-14 Penrith Panthers 14 (Alamoti, 61)

60 mins: Set after set threatens to break open. Warbrick wins another aerial contest but a swarm of pink is waiting for him on the ground. Cleary then breaks the line but can’t streak clear. Melbourne are growing into the contest with every minute, establishing field position and setting themselves up for one final assault.

To’o’s injury is a knee complaint.

59 mins: The pace remains relentless and fatigue is sure to kick in soon, but for now, the match has settled into a arm wrestle either side of halfway – but To’o is leaving the field for the Panthers – not sure why yet, but that could create an opening for Melbourne.

57 mins: Excellent contested mark from Warbrick after another trademark Penrith set. Melbourne respond with a tidy set of their own, but there’s nothing expansive on the last and no chaser gets within sniffing difference of Edwards.

56 mins: Katoa sets up Melbourne with two superb runs and a neat offload. Storm reach 30m and Blore gets his hands free for Howarth on his outside… but he spills under pressure.

55 mins: Yeo and Leota bust Melbourne open through the middle forcing Papenhuyzen to scramble, but he does well, and earns a penalty for some needless face-rubbing from Tago on the ground. Silly indiscipline from the Panther letting Storm off the hook.

53 mins: Garner improves what was turning out to be another modest set, allowing Cleary to kick high from 40 that Coates deals with safely. But Melbourne continue to spark! Papenhuyzen and Coates link well on the short side, the left, but Tago tackles well. Hughes then picks the wrong option, grubbering into touch on the right with Warbrick on the chase.

51 mins: Brad Fittler disagrees with Johns, and adds that the bunker has access to many more angles than we see on TV. The game goes on, and Melbourne are renewed, keeping Penrith to a modest set and returning fire on halfway. Hughes goes high on the last, and not for the first time tonight the Panthers don’t contest in the air, simply wrapping up Coates on his return to dry land 10m from home.

50 mins: Melbourne enjoy some rare possession inside Penrith’s half and on the last Munster hoists a bomb to the left corner. Xavier Coates does Xavier Coates things, marking and offloading in mid-air in one move. Howarth is front and square to gather and dive over – with four pink jerseys hanging off him… does he get the ball down? Ashley Klein says no. What does the TMO say? No try! Channel 9 was convinced Steeden touched turf. “I’m sure the ball is down!” asserts Andrew Johns. Wow. That will be talked about for a long time.

48 mins: But not quite yet. Katoa tackles Edwards by the fullback’s right arm in the act of passing to force a loose carry. Katoa backs that up with a bullocking run off the back of the scrum.

47 mins: So close for Penrith! A straightforward set ends with a Cleary bomb that Turuva marks majestically over the flat-footed Papenhuyzen. He offloads infield and Henry is held up inches from the line! Storm make it barely 25m before Hughes is forced to kick. The Panthers are relentless. At some point soon they are going to bust this game wide open and streak away into history.