By Dan Walsh
For Melbourne and Craig Bellamy, Thursday night’s win over Penrith mattered more to them than it did the Panthers.
Afterwards, of course, the matter at hand for the three-time premiers is Nathan Cleary’s right shoulder and the 51 days to the grand final - given the tense contest did nothing to dispel the notion this was a grand final dress rehearsal.
For the Storm though, Penrith’s caveats at kick-off - no Liam Martin or Scott Sorensen, Dylan Edwards and James Fisher-Harris underdone and returning from injury lay-offs - and then Cleary’s own absence, made a win critical.
Penrith have had their measure since the 2020 decider. The psychological advantage would have only grown considerably if they’d snuck away with another last-gasp win.
The manner in which Melbourne dismantled Ivan Cleary’s champion side though - albeit one not at their best - might just deliver an edge between the ears of their own.
Beating Brian: How Melbourne nullified the NRL’s best
Nathan Cleary might be Penrith’s most important man and on-field conductor, but NSW Origin champions Edwards and Brian To’o are the initial source of the Panthers dominance.
Brian To’o found himself in the firing line against Melbourne.Credit: NRL Imagery
As the two best backfield runners in the NRL, Penrith’s pocket rockets set up an incredibly effective yardage game that in concert with Kiwi props James Fisher-Harris and Moses Leota, has led all comers for the past five years.
At Penrith on Thursday night, Jahrome Hughes’ kicking game effectively took To’o out of the contest by giving him twice as much work to do under the high ball.
By repeatedly kicking long and high to the NRL’s best winger, Melbourne’s kick chase repeatedly swarmed To’o.
He ended up making twice as many kick return metres as he usually would, but those carries took him out of action for plays two and three - where his leg speed and post-contact metres are most effective.
Edwards was still hampered at times by his knee injury as well, and with less backfield coverage from him and To’o being targeted, Penrith ended up with 25 per cent less running metres than usual from them.
The flow-on effect was the type of early set where Leota was found flat-footed in the 20th minute before running sideways and being forced into a slow play-the-ball.
From the next play, Jarome Luai was under such kick pressure that he shovelled a ball wide for Mavrick Geyer to kick downfield - the kind of yardage battle Penrith have so rarely lost in recent years.
For the record, the Panthers did still win it - with 1736 run metres to the Storm’s 1597 - but it was still a marked reduction from their average of 1890 metres this year, and one Melbourne went to work with.
Get your kicks: The devil in the detail of Melbourne’s aerial assault
Meantime, opposition kickers and wingers with 15-20 centimetres on To’o have tried and largely failed to get at one of the NRL’s smallest flyers since he came into first grade.
If To’o is the 182cm he’s listed on the NRL website then your correspondent is a tap-dancing astronaut, but he has rarely been exposed under the high-ball thanks to the defensive nous of taller teammates.
A centre like Stephen Crichton (193cm) had previously been paired with To’o to combat aerial assaults. And not for nothing, Martin and Sorensen have helped put pressure on rival kickers when they try to put To’o on the spot.
Cameron Munster’s 35th-minute crossfield kick for all 193cm of Will Warbrick was practically perfect as described by Andrew Johns in commentary.
“There’s no support to help Brian To’o, he hits it low and hard which isolated To’o, Warbrick knocks it down to [Eliesa] Katoa.” Try time.
And a deliberate switch from the high kicks of Hughes designed to give his chasers ample time to swarm Penrith’s kick returns, this punt took time in the air away from the Panthers.
Defence for Dummies: Picking apart the best
Then with ball-in-hand, Munster and Tyran Wishart exploited rare chinks in the best defence of the past five years, though once again the absences of Martin and Sorensen played their part.
The Cameron Ciraldo ‘check and release’ system that is gaining rave reviews at Canterbury is the same that’s powered Penrith all this time.
It requires individuals in the defensive line holding their man before ‘releasing’ to shuffle wide, scramble and suffocate an attacking side.
For a young player, or one not as familiar with the system, though, the dummy can be a danger.
Just as it was for Geyer - starting his first game in the back row - when Munster sold him a lemon in the eighth minute and slid past Fisher-Harris.
And just as it was when Tyran Wishart shot past rookie utility Trent Toelau - playing his seventh NRL game - and a tiring Leota almost an hour later to draw Melbourne level.
Of course, all this only made for a two-point ball game.
And Penrith lost the NRL’s best clutch player right when Nathan Cleary tends to do his best and most important work. There was no Liam Martin or Scott Sorensen, and Dylan Edwards appeared hampered at times.
And again, it’s only mid-August. But then again, it’s the type of game plan you could see working on the first weekend of October too.
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