The Penrith Panthers have won back-to-back NRL premierships with a dominant 28-12 victory over the Parramatta Eels at Sydney's Olympic stadium.
The minor premiers led 18-0 at half-time thanks to tries from Stephen Crichton, Brian To'o and Scott Sorensen.
A contentious To'o four-pointer got the ball rolling in the second half for the Panthers, with Charlie Staines also crossing as Penrith underlined their dominance.
The Eels faced being held scoreless in a grand final for the second time in their history, but a Clint Gutherson try with three minutes remaining restored some dignity.
Jake Arthur then gathered a Will Penisini kick to score a second in as many minutes for the Eels, whose only solace is that they went down fighting in front of 82,415 spectators.
Panthers fullback Dylan Edwards won the Clive Churchill Medal, having ran for 281 metres, provided two try assists and pulled off a brilliant try-saving tackle on Bailey Simonsson.
"I think our first half was the best we have ever played," Nathan Cleary told the Nine Network after the match.
It is hard to disagree.
From the outset Penrith was totally dominant, running harder, passing crisper and hitting with more venom to force the Eels onto the back foot.
Crichton opened the scoring for the Panthers, cutting back inside after a slick backline move down the right to score under the posts.
The Panthers were relentless, crashing into the increasingly fractured Eels line with an unsettling regularity that held portents of a potential rout.
To'o crossed next, superbly finishing a well-worked move down the left this time as the Panthers threatened both sides of the Eels defence.
The Panthers were finding holes everywhere and — where none existed — they simply punched through anyway.
Viliame Kikau demolished Mitch Moses with another surging run and his quick play-the-ball allowed Cleary — who was again near-flawless for the Panthers — to create another break.
When Gutherson kicked out on the full from a goal-line dropout, those faint portents started screaming.
A Cleary penalty from that error helped the Panthers to a 12-0 lead, by which time they had enjoyed over 60 per cent possession.
By the time Sorensen gathered a deft Cleary kick in behind to score the Panther's third try, that figure had risen to 65 per cent.
It could have been worse too — only a stunning try-saving dive from Waqa Blake denied Kikau a score minutes before the break.
The Eels simply could not get hold of the ball but they almost scored a try on the stroke of half-time, with Jarome Luai taking the ball under his own crossbar to snuff out the danger of a Moses kick.
Trailing 18-0 at the break, the Eels needed everything to go their way in the second half if they were to get back into the contest.
But To'o crashed over in the corner to score the Panthers' fourth, with the try awarded despite a clear obstruction by Kikau on Moses.
The Eels kept trying, finally deploying their offload game to provoke the Panthers into a rare goal-line defensive set.
They should have scored too, but Maika Sivo dropped the ball over the line, with Crichton's last-ditch tackle just enough to dislodge the ball from the giant winger's grasp.
The Eels then showed stunning inventiveness to create a brilliant chance for Simonsson down the right wing, when Reed Mahoney grubbered a ball through to the Eels centre after shimming through a handful of tackles.
But symptomatic of the Eels night, Edwards came flying in from fullback to bundle the Eels winger into touch on halfway.
To make matters worse, Simonsson never returned to the field, leaving down the tunnel cradling his arm with an injury.
And then the Panthers scored again, with Staines finishing off a right-edge move to further extend the lead.
The Eels ensured they would not become the first team to be held scoreless since Manly thumped Melbourne 40-0 in 2008 with their two late tries.
But it was all too little, too late.
Penrith's first-grade victory completes one of the all-time great campaigns for the Panthers club, who also won the under 18s, under 20s, NSW Cup and Interstate Challenge titles.
Look back on how all the action unfolded in our blog.
Key events
- Dylan Edwards wins the Clive Churchill Medal
- The Penrith Panthers are back-to-back NRL premiers!
- 58th minute: Dylan Edwards has his Scott Sattler moment!
- Half-time: Panthers lead Parramatta 18-0
- Super-sub Scott Sorensen joins the party!
- Brian To'o goes over on the wing!
- Stephen Crichton scores the opener for Penrith!
- The NRL grand final is underway!
- Late changes for both sides
- The Newcastle Knights win their first NRLW premiership!
- ICYMI: More good omens for Penrith in the State Championship
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Live updates
By Jon Healy
We'll sign off there
I hope all rugby league fans feel blessed to be watching greatness like this in its pomp.
No-one in the NRL is close to them right now and it showed again tonight.
Parramatta had some guns to fire, but they barely got a shot off until the game was already gone.
Commiserations to those Eels fans, because that would've been a rough watch.
But there will be 16 teams chasing after Penrith again next year.
Until then, I suppose I'll see you back on the blog tools at the World Cup.
Have fun, and congratulations to this dominant Panthers outfit.
By Jon Healy
All-time great teams
By becoming the second team to win back-to-back men's NRL premierships, with an extra runner-up finish thrown in for good measure, this team is already in the upper echelon of rugby league teams.
But looking at this side, doing what they've in the salary cap era, rising so quickly, it's truly remarkable.
Just looking at the NRL era, Brad Fittler's Roosters of the early 2000s made three straight grand finals, but only won one. The Broncos won in '98, '00 and '06 behind Darren Lockyer and Wayne Bennett. The Roosters won in 2013, 2018 and 2019, with a runner-up finish in 2010. And of course Melbourne reached five grand finals from 2012 to 2020 (including four in five years), winning three premierships in that time.
One thing almost all those teams have over this Panthers team right now is longevity, but looking the set-up in Penrith, the four grand final wins across all grades this year, the youth of this team, how well drilled they are, there's no reason they can't have a similar 8- to 10-year run.
By Jon Healy
No parties in Parramatta tonight
By Jon Healy
Cleary 'can't wait to party' back in Penrith
More love for the West from Nathan Cleary.
"It is amazing to have two teams from Western Sydney represented here tonight. You had a great season. Looking forward to continuing those battles.
"To our boys, it is an absolute pressure to play alongside you guys. Just very blessed to wear this Penrith jersey. To win four comps throughout our whole club this year it is amazing (SG Ball, Jersey Flegg, NSW Cup and NRL). Thank you for that, guys.
"Lastly to the fans, thank you so much. So blessed to represent Penrith and can't wait to party with you all."
By Jon Healy
Scenes back in Penrith
By Jon Healy
Clint Gutherson is keeping things in perspective
Gutherson has said he's obviously gutted, but he's keen to get away from football now and reflect in a few weeks' time on what has been a great season.
"To Brad [Arthur], the coaching staff, look, we have ridden the roller-coaster again this year. No-one gave us a chance to be here. So love you all.
"To our boys, we are going to miss a few of you next year and I can't wait to spend the next couple of days having a few beers with you.
"Look, you know how much you guys mean to me."
By Jon Healy
Dylan Edwards wins the Clive Churchill Medal
Always the unsung hero of these Panthers sides, but no more.
Enjoy the World Cup, Dyl.
"To all our fans who have shown up all year, I love you guys. Just wanted to make our community proud out there and hopefully we did that.
"Last but not least, the families of all our squad members, you guys support us through thick and thin. You ride the roller-coaster with us. Especially my partner. I'm so lucky to have you in my corner. I will be forever grateful."
Shall we watch that tackle again? Yeah, why not?
By Jon Healy
The moment Penrith won their second straight NRL grand final
By Jon Healy
Is Dylan Edwards officially a superstar yet?
The crowd erupts with as Dylan Edwards gets on the mic. I don't think he's underrated or flying under the radar anymore. One of the top fullbacks in the league and maybe about to become a Clive Churchill medallist.
"I can't really explain it. I can't put it into words," Edwards tells Channel Nine.
He clearly hates talking about himself, describing his stunning cover tackle as "I just had to make a tackle". I mean, he's right, but it was a pretty good one.
By Jon Healy
The Penrith Panthers are back-to-back NRL premiers!
The ball ends in the hands of the departing Api Koroisau, bringing to a close a complete performance by a complete rugby league team.
Nathan Cleary gives his dad an enormous hug. That's got to be a special moment. Nathan tries to bring him in for a photo, but Ivan' got plenty of other players to embrace, including the Bulldogs-bound Viliame Kikau, who's very emotional.
"We feel like we're at the top of our game," says Isaah Yeo, who maybe hints at becoming the first modern team to win three straight, and I don't see any reason they can't.
Koroisau and Kikau leaving is enormous, but they have so much class and such a great team culture, you'd back them to fill those holes.
By Jon Healy
79th minute
The Eels try one last trick shot, a chip over the top for Waqa Blake, but it goes out. And that will just about see us home.
By Jon Healy
Jake Arthur gets a grand final try!
Well that's actually a really cool moment. He only came on with five minutes left and he has a grand final try.
Moses grubbered through early, Papali'i gathered, popped to Moses, who passed out to Will Penisini, who kicked back infield, and Arthur got there.
This guy's had a lot of hate sent his way this year, so that might go some way to easing that.
By Jon Healy
Clint Gutherson gets the Eels off the bagel
Well deserved for Parramatta's captain and it prevents the Eels from going down in history as the first team since 2008 to be bageled in a grand final.
Isaiah Papali'i made the break and popped an offload to Gutherson, who skipped past Dylan Edwards and fended off Liam Martin to go over under the sticks.
By Jon Healy
77th minute
Cleary goes close again, but Will Penisini keeps him out.
By Jon Healy
74th minute
Brian To'o cleans up a grubber and Reagan Campbell-Gillard skips over the top of the prone winger, allowing him to go rocketing upfield.
He's eventually stopped in a brute of a ball-and-all tackle from Gutherson, but he stripped To'o illegally after the tackle.
By Jon Healy
71st minute
The Eels break down the left through Dylan Brown, but Moses Leota gets back there to cover. So many impressive effort plays from these Panthers right now.
Brown tries a miracle 30-metre pass out to Sivo after that, and honestly it was pretty close, but didn't quite come off.
By Jon Healy
69th minute: Cleary goes over, but it's no try
He scooted over off the scrumbase and came within a whisker of scoring another powerful grand final try, but he grounded the ball just short, knocking on thanks to Reed Mahoney's tackle.
All smiles for Penrith regardless. This is fun and games now.
By Jon Healy
67th minute
The Panthers are awarded a penalty, and they kick for touch, hungry for more points.
Cross-field kick goes up, it comes down and Shaun Lane knocks on. So it's more time under the boot for the Eels. This is brutal.
By Jon Healy
64th minute
Parramatta loses their captain's challenge as Gutherson asks for a review of an aerial contest in which he clearly knocked the ball into Liam Martin. What's he doing?
And Penrith loses theirs after Api Koroisau knocks on and Junior Paulo is found NOT to have stripped it.
After three in a minute, neither team has any captain's challenges left.
