Panthers trounce their way to fourth-straight decider
The Penrith Panthers’ quest for an elusive three-peat is alive and well after a 38-4 thumping of the Melbourne Storm at Accor Stadium on Friday night.
Two Brian To’o tries in the opening quarter gave the Panthers an early lead before wing-partner Sunia Turuva joined him on the scoresheet soon after to make it 18-4 heading into the break.
Two tries in two minutes to Nathan Cleary and Dylan Edwards dashed any hope of a Storm comeback before To’o grabbed a third late to put the cherry on top of a fourth-straight preliminary finals victory.
Penrith dominated possession and yardage whilst the Storm’s ill-discipline – 13 errors and nine penalties conceded – made things all the more difficult.
The Penrith middle were superb – Isaah Yeo, James Fisher-Harris, and Moses Leota combined for 481 metres from 56 carries with 12 tackle breaks and made 79 tackles with just two misses – whilst Melbourne’s starting middle struggled to build ascendancy for much of the night – Christian Welch, Tui Kamikamica, and Josh King combined for 222 metres from 27 carries with four tackle breaks and made 94 tackles with nine misses.
To’o, meanwhile, scored three and ran for 181 metres with nine tackle breaks whilst Turuva scored a try, assisted on another, and ran for 100 metres with seven tackle breaks.
Broncos too strong for Warriors, keep premiership dream alive
The Brisbane Broncos are back in the Grand Final after an eight-year wait finishing atop the Warriors 42-12 at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night.
An early Dallin Watene-Zelezniak double saw the visitors jump out to an early lead before a trio of Broncos tries in the space of seven minutes – including Billy Walters’ second four-pointer of the night – boosted the hosts to a 24-8 lead.
Marcelo Montoya scored shy of the half-hour mark to cut it back to a dozen before the Warriors began enjoying some gains in the arm wrestle on the other side of the intermission.
Jordan Riki scored off an egregious missed forward pass 54 minutes in to punch the air out of the Warriors’ tires and lay the platform for Ezra Mam and Herbie Farnworth to seal it late.
Payne Haas (19 carries, 228 metres & 33 tackles, zero misses) won the big man battle versus Addin Fonua-Blake (12 carries, 134 metres & 20 tackles, one miss) whilst Reece Walsh electrified for much of the night overcoming an early intercept to finish with a trio of try assists, six line break assists, and 146 run metres with four tackle breaks.
Farnworth scored a double and ran for a game-high 232 metres with seven tackle breaks whilst Keenan Palasia ran for 168 metres off the bench.
Despite a disappointing end, the Warriors enjoyed their best season in over a decade thanks in large part to the tutelage of first-year head coach Andrew Webster, the brilliance of Dally M favourite Shaun Johnson, and the power game headed by their imposing forward pack.
