The Storm and Penrith sides look vastly different to the two teams that last battled it out for the NRL premiership in 2020.
The Panthers and Storm will go toe-to-toe on Sunday as Penrith attempt to win their fourth straight NRL grand final and in doing so avenge their 2020 defeat at the hands of Melbourne. While the Storm will try to put an end to Penrith’s NRL dominance as they return to the big show.
But the two sides who face each other this weekend barely resemble the teams that ran out in 2020. Eight players remain from the Penrith team that faced Craig Bellamy‘s men that day, while only four players who won that year for the Storm will feature on Sunday (Cameron Munster, Ryan Papenhuyzen, Jahrome Hughes and Christian Welch). And Penrith’s exodus will continue win or lose on Sunday, with James Fisher-Harris and Jarome Luai – who were part of the 2020 defeat – leaving for the Warriors and Tigers respectively next season.
And addressing the massive squad changes since Penrith’s 2020 grand final defeat, Ivan Cleary said the key to his side’s prolonged success since has been having a system in place where there is a strong leadership group to nurture those coming into the team. “We’ve tried to form a system that’s not so much about the individual players but how they all connect together,” Cleary told reporters last week.
“It is also important that the eight players who have been through this five-year period, they are great leaders and we are lucky enough to have some outstanding leaders in our club, they can pass on the standards to the younger players.
“We are also a development club, we pride ourselves on bringing young players through. Apart from that, it’s probably just good luck.”