{"id":465398,"date":"2025-08-14T12:04:37","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T12:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=465398"},"modified":"2025-08-14T22:17:43","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T22:17:43","slug":"storm-steal-epic-grand-final-rematch-with-81st-minute-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=465398","title":{"rendered":"Storm steal epic grand final rematch with 81st-minute winner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melbourne<\/a> and Penrith<\/a> have given an early glimpse into what finals football will look like this season in an epic golden-point grand final rematch for the ages.<\/p>\n

In one of the best matches of the season, it was Harry Grant who stepped up with the game on the line to give the Storm a hard-fought 22-18 win at CommBank Stadium.<\/p>\n

The hosts opened the scoring after 10 minutes when Isaiah Papali'i burrowed his way over from dummy-half after 10 minutes of play.<\/p>\n

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"That's a big effort – he had Nathan Cleary screaming for the ball but he decided to just go himself," Cameron Smith said on Nine. \ufeff<\/p>\n

Brian To'o looked destined to extend Penrith's lead, but was stopped by Marion Seve just short of the line in a try-saving tackle that was ruled high by referee Ashley Klein.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

An extended period of strong field position didn't result in points for the reigning premiers and down the other end, Xavier Coates leaped above to score a trademark try.<\/p>\n

Replays would then show the Storm winger lost the ball in the air before scoring and it looked set to be overturned upon video review.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2025 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

"There's a bobble\ufeff – it hits Dylan Edwards' and goes back, this will be a no try," Andrew Johns said on commentary.<\/p>\n

However, to the surprise of the commentators and crowd, Bunker official Chris Butler ruled that Coates managed to regain possession before it touched Edwards.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Before the break, the Panthers opted to run the ball on last tackle then Izack Tago chipped it back in-field and Nathan Cleary ended up sliding over the line to score.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"That's such a clever play," Smith said. \ufeff<\/p>\n

Melbourne's woes continued heading towards half time when young halfback Jonah Pezet was spotted limping and grabbing at a potential groin injury.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"He's gone," Johns said.<\/p>\n

Penrith claimed a gifted two points from a penalty goal, taking the 12-4 lead.<\/p>\n

Early in the second stanza, Liam Martin landed awkwardly on his shoulder and looked to be in some discomfort and would soon leave the field.<\/p>\n

A dramatic moment saw \ufeffCleary almost nail a pinpoint 40\/20 kick, but the bouncing ball was cut off by Munster, who produced an incredible piece of skill filling in at fullback.<\/p>\n

\"Munster<\/p>\n

The game was turned on its head when a poor pass from Blaize Talagi landed in the hands of Coates, who raced away for a long-range intercept try.<\/p>\n

Casey McLean chased from the other side of the field, but it wasn't enough to stop the lethal Melbourne flyer who continued his fantastic season. \ufeff\ufeff<\/p>\n

The visitors took the lead with 23 minutes to go and it was Coates involved once again, this time jumping above Tago and batting it backwards to Joe Chan.<\/p>\n

Just as it looked like the Storm were gaining control of the contest, Scott Sorensen got through some sloppy defence and put Penrith right back on top.<\/p>\n

"That was pretty soft … they were back-tracking on their own line," Johns said. \ufeff<\/p>\n

\"Sorensen<\/p>\n

The see-sawing clash continued when Nick Meaney split the defence open and from the next play, Seve dived over in the corner as his protective goggles flew off.<\/p>\n

Meaney failed to slot the sideline conversion as the scores stayed locked at 18-18 and it set up a remarkable grandstand finish between two elite sides.<\/p>\n

With less than three minutes to go, Cleary nailed a field goal but referee Klein blew his whistle for a penalty against Moses Leota, who stood and blocked Harry Grant.<\/p>\n

"He played that well," Smith quipped on commentary. \ufeff<\/p>\n

\"Cleary<\/p>\n

Cleary got two more chances in the final minute of regular time, but both attempts to nail the game-winning shot were charged down by the Storm.<\/p>\n

As the gripping contest entered extra time, Penrith made an error that was immediately capitalised on by Munster, who dummied and got through the defence.<\/p>\n

Moments later, Grant caught the Panthers napping and scored under the posts, capping off a nail-biting victory for the premiership heavyweights.<\/p>\n

"I can't believe this is a club game," Johns said. \ufeff<\/p>\n

Last year's runners-up pulled off the win despite missing Ryan Papenhuyzen, Jahrome Hughes, Jack Howarth, Will Warbrick, Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Sua Faalogo.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melbourne and Penrith have given an early glimpse into what finals football will look like this season in an epic golden-point grand final rematch for […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":465400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465398"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=465398"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":465406,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465398\/revisions\/465406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/465400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=465398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=465398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=465398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}