Nathan Cleary played a starring role in Penrith’s preliminary final against Cronulla as he guided his side through to their fifth straight grand final.
In a scrappy affair, the halfback rose head and shoulders above every other player out on the field to ice the big moments and condemn the Sharks to a 26-6 defeat.
He finished with three try assists, one linebreak and 98 run metres during a brilliant performance.
The Panthers are now just 80 minutes away from winning a remarkable fourth title in a row as they prepare to face off in a mouthwatering battle against Melbourne.
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The Storm powered their way through to the decider with big wins over Cronulla and the Sydney Roosters after previously picking up the minor premiership with a first placed finish on the ladder.
However, Craig Bellamy will have his work cut out for him in trying to end Penrith and Nathan Cleary's stranglehold over the competition.
The Storm last claimed the premiership in 2020 when they inflicted a defeat on the Panthers during their first of five successive appearances on the first Saturday of October.
The men from the foot of the mountains responded in style to the heartbreak though as they went on to claim three premierships on the bounce to write their names into the history books.
Cleary has had a major hand in all three titles and will be looking to once again orchestrate a triumph before key trio Jarome Luai, James Fisher-Harris and Sunia Turuva depart the club.
The No.7 has featured just 12 times in the league so far this year after being plagued with injury issues.
He picked up two separate hamstring injuries early in the campaign, which saw him miss a massive chunk of action as well as the entire State of Origin series for New South Wales.
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However, he returned at the business end of the season to enjoy a stellar month-long period where he booted a game-winning field goal, bagged a hat-trick and sparked a stunning comeback victory against Parramatta.
But then disaster struck again in the closing weeks of the regular season when he suffered a shoulder injury while playing against the Storm.
Cleary missed a few weeks before returning for the finals charge and has appeared untroubled by the issue up until the closing exchanges of the prelim final win over the Sharks.
He sent shockwaves through the Penrith camp when he got to his feet clutching at his left shoulder after completing a lunging tackle on Kayal Iro close to his line.
The halfback remained on the field for a few more minutes before eventually being replaced by Brad Schneider.
His withdrawal five minutes from the end ensured headlines will rumble on about his fitness ahead of the decider, although he immediately put those fears about his condition to bed post-match.
"It's all good, just a little knock at the end but I played through the next two sets, and it was fine," Cleary said.
"It was always going to be one of those things. It didn't feel amazing, and I wasn't 100 per cent but I was confident to go out on the field and play.
"Tonight was fine and I wasn't even thinking about it, to be honest. Even after that incident I played through the next two sets and was sweet."
"I just took him off because we could," Ivan Cleary added.
