Nathan Cleary was knocked out early and Nick Meaney suffered a broken jaw on a night of carnage as Melbourne rubbed salt into the Panthers’ wounds at AAMI Park.
Cleary’s concussion was a hammer blow to the already depleted Penrith team’s hopes of replicating their grand final victory over the new premiership favourites.
The 30-24 loss means Penrith are now 1-2 and their quest for five titles in a row is off to a lacklustre start following last week’s surprise loss to the Roosters.
For the Storm, the loss of Meaney is also a bitter blow and they should face questions from the NRL over the decision to leave their right centre on the field for one more play after colliding with hulking teammate Nelson Asofa-Solomona before the Bunker’s independent doctor ordered him from the field for an assessment.
1. Munster in a magical mood
The Storm are a very good team on the occasions when Cameron Munster is having one of his off performances.
But when he is on song, they are premiership material.
Munster was at his dynamic best in Thursday night’s grand final rematch with Penrith. By the way, the Storm did not exact revenge for their loss last October – no trophies were handed out after this match.
Their star five-eighth is reportedly in a settled state off-field after cutting out the booze while adopting a stricter diet and it’s translating to the playing arena.
Munster set up three tries with clever kicks and was a frequent thorn in Penrith’s side as he combined with Jahrome Hughes and Ryan Papenhuyzen to keep the Panthers at bay.
2. Cleary concussion will have lingering effect
Cleary has been assessed a grade-one concussion so that means he will also be out for their Round 4 rumble with the Rabbitohs.
He only had eyes for the ball as the superstar Panther tried to get his claws on the Steeden after an in-field kick from Storm fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen.
Cleary was blindsided by Jahrome Hughes as he leapt, clipping his opposing halfback’s shoulder to flip onto his head.
With fullback Dylan Edwards already sidelined with a groin injury and facing another couple of weeks out, the Panthers are vulnerable and facing the biggest challenge of their four-year dynasty.
Jack Howarth is tackled. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
3. A champion team never surrenders
Melbourne appeared to be bothered by the c word that Craig Bellamy hates to see.
Complacency set in after the Storm scooted out to a 14-0 lead.
They touched down via a relatively simple right-side raid for Grant Anderson in the fourth minute and when Eliesa Katoa latched onto a Cameron Munster stab kick a short time after Cleary was replaced, the home side looked on course for a massive winning margin.
But the Panthers fought back via two Paul Alamoti diving over twice in the corner to shave the deficit to four by the break.
And they hit the front soon after the restart when Casey McLean sliced through the goal-line defence off an old-fashioned set piece from a scrum win.
Melbourne edged back in front when Xavier Coates marked on the spot from a Munster high ball dropping just before the try line.
Super sun Tyran Wishart, loitering unmarked on the wing after Anderson succumbed to a knee injury, put the hosts up 24-16 with a quarter of the game left when he gleefully accepted a Jahrome Hughes cut-out pass.
Brian To’o halved the gap when the Panthers capitalised on a Papenhuyzen fumble in the slippery conditions but the home fullback redeemed himself by speeding onto Munster’s grubber up the other end to seal the win.
To’o bulldozed over again to keep the fans on edge for the final four minutes but the gallant Panthers could not conjure up a miracle.
4. Panthers cubs bare their teeth
The new breed of Panthers enhanced their reputations even though they didn’t get the points on Thursday night.
A week after a team of fresh faces and fringe first-graders from the Roosters did a job on them, the Panthers’ lesser lights stepped up.
Eels recruit Blaize Talagi made his club debut after off-season shoulder surgery when he came off the bench to replace Cleary.
He had a couple of hiccups early but settled into his role alongside Jack Cole to keep the Panthers in the contest.
Young centre Casey McLean, bench forward Liam Henry and stand-in fullback Thomas Jenkins also played above their reputation to ensure Penrith halted the Storm’s early dominance.
5. Tough call on hip drop that wasn’t
Munster should surely face no further action from the match review committee even though he was put on report for a dangerous tackle in the 29th minute.
Munster brought down Liam Martin from behind after his old Kangaroos teammate made a break from near his own goal line.
It wasn’t a hip drop because he didn’t swing his body weight around Martin’s legs and it wasn’t a trip because he grabbed the Panther and hung on as his legs cut down his opponent at the ankles.
Storm skipper Harry Grant rightly complained to Adam Gee but the referee said Munster still had a “duty of care” to his opponent.
Rugby league is not built on players caring about their opponents – they are bred to hate them by doing everything permissible to bring them down.
The Kick: Head injury protocols still not strict enough
Storm centre Nick Meaney was lucky to be able to get back to his feet after a sickening head clash with towering teammate Nelson Asofa-Solomona.
“You’re not going to meet too many larger heads than that one,” Melbourne’s favourite son, Cameron Smith, joked on Nine commentary.
But what is not a laughing matter is the fact that Meaney was allowed to stay on the field when play continued while the Bunker reviewed the footage.
Luckily for him, Penrith directed their attack away from Meaney in the one play before the inevitable word came back from the Bunker that he needed to come off for a head injury assessment.
Teams seem to just about always wait for a directive from the independent doctor before replacing a player after a heavy head knock.
If a concussed player cops another hit while they stay on the field because their team was hoping to avoid the glare of the Bunker’s medico, the consequences could be very serious.
It was later revealed Meaney had suffered a broken jaw. He was very unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time but fortunate he did not have any further involvement while he was on the field.
