Penrith was stripped for NRL grand final experience on Sunday night and it showed.
But if everything goes to plan it won’t be their last shot at a title.
A horror first half in which they gave up 22 unanswered points left them skint for time to finish their stunning fightback.
The damage was done long before their three tries in the final 11 minutes of the match.
Prior to Sunday’s 26-20 loss at ANZ Stadium only three Panthers had felt the pressure cooker of an NRL decider compared to 11 Melbourne players.
Those 11 players had a combined 34 NRL grand finals.
And all of them had lost one too.
Penrith stars James Tamou, Api Koroisau and Zane Tetevano had all been there on the final day of the NRL season once before – each coming away with a premiership ring.
Tamou has now played his last game for the club, joining Wests Tigers next season, but 16 others in the youngest team in the competition now have valuable knowledge in the bank to go one better next year.
After all, they say the biggest lessons are learnt in a loss.
And on Sunday night the lessons were harsh.
The biggest was patience, followed by discipline.
The Panthers had the highest completion rate in the competition (81.9 per cent) before Sunday night but committed 15 errors, finishing just 68 per cent of their sets.
Before Sunday night their season average was just 9.3 errors a game.
Seven penalties hurt them too, which in the end was the difference after a horror first half.
At times the Panthers looked panicked in the face of a resolute Melbourne defensive line who have the best scramble defence in the competition.
Penrith’s 17-straight wins were built on pressure – high completions and high confidence.
But after Storm scored the first try in the fourth minute the doubt appeared to creep in.
Eager to make up for his suspension in the preliminary final, weapon Viliame Kikau tried too hard and had a horror night on the left edge.
His first error came as he passed the ball out to winger Josh Mansour to score in the eighth minute only for it to be denied for an obstruction.
He then passed the ball off the ground and gave away a penalty and knocked on all in the first half.
And while he was sensational all season, a mistake when it mattered will be a learning curve for Nathan Cleary.
His long pass in front of rushing defence was picked off by a flying Suliasi Vunivalu, who raced the length of the field to score after 31 minutes.
As Cleary stood under the goalposts watching the replay on the big screen, it was painfully obvious he’d like the moment over again.
And maybe he’ll get it.
For the youngest team in the competition there is much to learn and plenty of time to do it.
Source:: SportsNews
