The Panthers show yet again they are a team that finds joy in the struggle, who like the fight more than they like the win — and they like the win an awful lot.
This is just what rugby league is now — we all run around for a few months, teams rise and fall and, in the end, the Panthers win.
But it was their most smothering win and perhaps one that best reflects the qualities that have made them immortal. The process of victory is a way of life for them at this point. This was a footballing suffocation, the kind Melbourne were so good at in the early Craig Bellamy years and it was beautiful to watch, albeit in a brutal, horribly uncomfortable kind of way.
The Storm are minor premiers for a reason — even in this game, where they were looking physically outmatched for so long, they managed to find a couple of chances. But there were so many others that counted — like Izack Tago's perfectly timed cover tackle on Papenhuyzen, or Alamoti's smart turn and popped pass to Jarome Luai that led to Sunia Turuva's try, or Luai's switch of play in the lead-up to Martin's score or the tough runs of Isaah Yeo and Brian To'o.You could sit for days listing all the little things that added up to their victory and that's kind of the point.
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