Nice guys don't win.
If there was one lesson Penrith were asked to heed out of their 2020 grand final loss to Melbourne, it was this.
A young team that had all the skill, cohesion and talent, but still needed a hard-edged ruthlessness in the biggest games.
Effectively, it was the missing piece of the Panthers' puzzle.
The 22-0 first-half pummelling from the Storm would prove a key turning point for what is now one of the most dominant teams of the NRL-era.
Losing teams don't often pore extensively over grand final losses, still scarred by the pain of defeat on the biggest stage.
For Penrith, their review was forensic.
And the key realisation was they had been walked all over by Melbourne at a half-full Stadium Australia three years ago.
"They did everything in their power to win that game," prop Spencer Leniu told AAP ahead of Friday's preliminary final against the Storm.
"And we probably weren't ruthless enough in it.
"That's the biggest lesson we took out of that game. To win these big game, you've go to just do whatever it takes.
"They did that in the 2020 grand final, we didn't."
It was part of the reason why Ivan Cleary and the club's strength-and-conditioning coach at the time, Hayden Knowles, organised a fight camp the following summer.
There, at Broken Bay on the Hawkesbury River, players were shown eagle-eye replays of the grand final, pointing out what they believed were at least five off-the-ball incidents from Melbourne rivals.
They were reminded time and time again that the Storm had walked over them, and as a club Penrith needed to stand up for itself.
There were also lessons in how key Panthers players had been targeted, as well as a belief the Storm had pushed the envelope at every opportunity.
Knowles and others present at the time did not want to detail Melbourne's grand final antics this week, fearing it would only provide the Storm ammunition for Friday's clash.
But for Penrith, it had become clear at the time that this was a young team guilty of riding the wave of 17 straight wins into the grand final.
And in Melbourne, they had been shown how to win and what mindset it took to get there.
"We got caught up with 'wow we're making it to the grand final'," centre Stephen Crichton said.
"But you look at that Melbourne side and they had so much experience.
"They had Cameron Smith, (Felise) Kaufusi, the Bromwich brothers (Jesse and Kenny), like all of those big name players, and they know how to win.
"We just didn't play the way we wanted to, and I think there was a massive wake-up call to our team.
"We learned a lot from that grand final in how we want to start games and how we want to play."
Boxer Bilal Akkawy was called in alongside Penrith's hardest man in Mark Geyer.
Videos were also shown of Jose Mourinho telling Tottenham players in 2020 that "good guys never win", and that they had to grow some mongrel.
Penrith's response was immediate.
When players were labelled arrogant following a nasty affair with Canberra in May 2021, coach Cleary publicly defended his players.
But internally, the Panthers were OK with being hated because that's the reality for successful clubs.
When Melbourne and Penrith met again in that year's preliminary final, the Panthers won a gruelling encounter, with Tevita Pangai in particular going after the Storm pack early.
And the balance of power in rugby league shifted immediately.
Penrith have won seven of eight finals since being taught a lesson in the 2020 decider, and are two victories away from claiming a third straight premiership.
Cleary's men have also beaten Melbourne whenever they have been close to full-strength ever since, arguably stealing the Storm's mantle as the most feared club in the NRL.
"We've taken them on in plenty of big games ... and they've gotten it over us recently," Melbourne captain Christian Welch said.
"Obviously Penrith, they set the standard in the NRL. Obviously the best side in the NRL the last three or four years.
"We've played them twice this year and we've lost as well. That's really motivated the group.
"I've got a lot of respect, but we'll be doing our best to ruin the party on Friday."
For the Panthers, the lessons they took from Melbourne in 2020 have stuck with them since.
And it will again be part of their mindset when the two-time defending premiers push for a fourth straight decider.
"That's probably the edge that we were missing to win a grand final," Leniu said.
"That win-at-all-cost mentality, that ruthless mentality. We've obviously taken that into the past three years.
"So if we keep that mentality hopefully we get the win.
"It's got to be whatever it takes. There's no friends on the field. It's going to be war."
