Penrith Panthers score back-to-back premierships with win over Parramatta Eels at Accor Stadium


Jarome Luai was right: daddy lives in the far west.

Inescapably, this felt like a real NRL grand final day at a Sydney stadium which won’t see funding any time soon.

The NRL may have postured and puffed its chests out about taking it back to Brisbane, but what a disaster that would have been given both grand finalists are from just up the road.

Sadly, it followed a familiar script to the AFL season climax on September 24.

There has been a romance about the grand final in the past decade-and-a-bit, and it felt like the final domino, swaying on the banks of the Parramatta River, had the chance to fall. The Dragons had Wayne, South Sydney the Goanna, the Cowboys JT, Harold Holt’s porch light was turned off in the Shire.

The Eels, surely?

They might be a team desperately trying to escape their past, but on a night a generation of fans had waited for, there were reminders of the ghosts everywhere.

If not for Waqa Blake’s surety of hand, slapping a ball dead from the grasp of Viliame Kikau with the line begging, it would have been the same 24-0 half-time score of the 2001 grand final heartbreak against the Knights.

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It was bad enough anyway.

The Panthers, too, were being chased by history.

Dylan Edwards channelled Scott Sattler’s remarkable 2003 cover tackle on Todd Byrne, racing across to cut down Bailey Simonsson by his bootlaces and drag him over the sideline. The Eels centre was helped up the tunnel because of a serious shoulder problem, and Panthers coach Ivan Cleary showed rare emotion in the coaching box, punching the air in delight.

After three years of grand finals being in the balance until the last minute, this was as good as over after the first.

That might be harsh on the Eels, who traded punches with their rivals for the opening 10 minutes, and even found time for a trick shot when Dylan Brown kicked downfield for his speedy halves partner Mitchell Moses on the second tackle.

But once the hand of Crichton, the man who pick-pocketed Cody Walker to score Penrith’s last and title-sealing try last year, scored this year’s first, there was an air of inevitability wafting through Sydney Olympic Park.

Scott Sorensen tries to burrow his way over for the Panthers.Credit:Getty

The only surprise was when he steamed onto an inside ball from Edwards, and not Nathan Cleary. The fullback spoke of needing to add creativity to his game during the grand final preparations. He’s so good at the moment, it seems he found it in a week.

To’o scored in the corner after a slick left-side shift, and by the end of the next set, Gutherson was so desperate to try something, anything, to turn the tide, he resorted to belting a short dropout over the sideline on the full. Cleary opted for two points and death by a thousand kicks.

His next contribution was with a left-foot grubber, which found the unlikely Scott Sorensen touching down for an 18-0 half-time cushion.

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It got worse. To’o got his second after the break, and his wing partner, Charlie Staines, his first. You could see it coming from a mile away.

So Brian, we salute you and your Panthers.

PENRITH PANTHERS 28 (Brian To’o 2, Stephen Crichton, Scott Sorensen, Charlie Staines tries; Nathan Cleary 4 goals) defeated PARRAMATTA EELS 12 (Clint Gutherson, Jake Arthur tries; Mitchell Moses 2 goals) at Accor Stadium. Referee: Ashley Klein. Crowd: 82,415.



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