The Melbourne Storm have held off the surging Penrith Panthers 26-20 to claim their fourth NRL premiership in a dramatic grand final at Sydney's Olympic stadium.
The Storm led 22-0 at half-time, blowing the Panthers away on the scoreboard despite the two sides appearing relatively evenly matched.
After the break, Clive Churchill medallist Ryan Papenhuyzen appeared to seal the game when he ran 80 metres to extend the lead to 26-0.
But a controversial try awarded to Brian To'o — despite there appearing to be a clear instance of obstruction in the build-up — saw the Panthers rally to come within a score of pulling off a dramatic, unlikely comeback.
Two more tries followed for the Panthers, the second after the Storm were reduced to 12 men when Jahrome Hughes was sent to the sin bin for a professional foul.
In an extraordinary finale, the Storm then had Brandon Smith similarly punished for trying to take time off the clock in the final minute, with Nathan Clearly reducing the deficit to six points with a last-gasp try, giving the Panthers three seconds to find a miracle score against an 11-man defence.
However, with three seconds remaining on the clock the Panthers could not go the length of the field, handing the Storm their fourth premiership.
Sensational Storm power to early lead
After a frenetic opening to the contest, it was the Storm that drew first blood after just three minutes.
Justin Olam initially appeared to have dropped the ball over the line after Josh Addo-Carr's excellent pass inside, but replays showed Tyrone May used his foot to kick the ball out as Olam dived, resulting in the bunker awarding a penalty try, with Smith adding the extras from in front.
The Panthers thought they had hit back almost immediately through Josh Mansour, only to be cruelled by a marginal bunker decision.
Mansour dived over in the corner after the Panthers capitalised on an Olam error and a six-again call, but Steven Crichton was adjudged to have impeded Brenko Lee in the build-up.
The Panthers asked plenty of questions of the Storm in the first half but some fierce middle defence from Melbourne, coupled with some frantic tackling out wide, kept the Panthers at bay.
Down 10-0 approaching the half-hour mark, Cleary looked to try and make something happen, pushing a long, looping pass wide, but Suliasi Vunivalu acrobatically pounced on the wayward pass, claiming the ball and raced 80 metres to score flamboyantly under the posts.
Penrith looked rattled, and things only got worse just before the half-time break.
After giving away a penalty — their fifth of the half to the Storm's one — Smith opted to run the ball, sending Nelson Asofa-Solomona crashing towards the line only to repelled by some staunch Panthers defence.
But Smith picked up from dummy half, had the ball knocked out of his hands by Koroisau, and picked up to score under the posts.
Initially ruled a knock-on, the bunker overturned the decision to hand Smith his 48th career NRL try and give the Storm a 22-0 lead at the break.
Penrith's lucky break
"Obviously didn't go quite to plan in the first half," Ivan Cleary said just prior to the resumption.
Things didn't start much better in the second, when a failed captain's challenge for a clear knock-on by Moses Leota was punished almost immediately by a moment of magic from Papenhuyzen.
The Storm fullback, who was added to the NSW Blues squad during the match, spotted a gap between Cleary and May and, with a swerve of his hips, flew through it, racing 80 metres to score.
If the Panthers had felt aggrieved by early decisions going against them — although none could be said to be wrong — they were delivered a huge slice of luck in the 54th minute.
To'o was incorrectly awarded a try despite Isaah Yeo clearly running behind his decoy runner, a move that should have been called for obstruction.
However the Bunker ruled that the try stand, leading NRL Immortal Andrew Johns to say on Channel Nine's commentary: "They don't know the rules".
Panthers resurgence sets up remarkable finale
The Panthers had left themselves a lot to do, but were handed more belief thanks to another try from Crichton, who bamboozled Lee with a neat inside step after a left-side shift.
With the score at 26-12, the Panthers were given a huge boost when Hughes was sent to the sin bin for a professional foul after blocking Kikau's chase of a Cleary grubber.
Mansour added another from the next play against the short-handed Storm thanks to a lovely lofted pass by Jarome Luai.
Brandon Smith was then sent to the bin with less than 60 seconds left, increasing Penrith's belief.
Cleary, who was obviously gutted after a relatively poor game, powered through three tacklers to set up a grandstand finale, reducing the deficit to six points with just three seconds left and declining the shot at goal to give them one shot at a miracle.
Penrith threw caution to the wind, flinging the ball from one side of the field to another in an attempt to pull off a miracle score, but could not find a way through, handing the Storm the win.
Earlier, the Brisbane Broncos won their third straight NRLW title with a 20-10 win over the Sydney Roosters.
Look back at how the action unfolded in our live blog.
