NRL Grand Final result: Penrith Panthers edge Melbourne Storm for fourth straight title

Penrith have rammed home their status as rugby league’s greatest team in almost 60 years, claiming their fourth straight premiership with a 14-6 win over Melbourne.

In a drama-filled grand final, Penrith dominated possession and territory but only pulled away late in front of a crowd of 80,156 people at Accor Stadium.

The win makes them only the third team in history to win four straight premierships, and the first since the great St George side won 11 in a row from 1956 and 1966.

But the result threatened to be overshadowed by allegations of a bite, with Penrith centre Paul Alamoti claiming he was bitten by Melbourne star Cameron Munster.

Munster was put on report, with referee Ashley Klein stating he could not be certain what happened when Alamoti’s arm went near the No.6′s mouth.

Still, the story from the night is Penrith’s fourth straight premiership.

Second-rower Liam Martin played close to his best ever game for Penrith, Nathan Cleary was superb again despite appearing to struggle with his shoulder injury late.

Brian To’o was as powerful as ever before suffering a second-half knee injury and limping off.

And Jarome Luai also had a fitting final ride in the Penrith No.6 jersey, playing a hand in the lead up to two tries in his last game before departing for Wests Tigers.

But the game was also not without bunker controversy.

With Penrith holding a 10-6 lead in the 50th minute, Melbourne appeared to draw level when Jack Howarth crashed over after a batted-back Cameron Munster kick.

Klein initially ruled that Dylan Edwards and Izack Tago had held Howarth up, while passing the call up to the bunker.

Replays appeared to show the ball touch the ground, but bunker official Grant Atkins opted to stick with Klein’s on-field call of try.

The 10-6 scoreline remained for another 10 minutes, before Martin gave Penrith a crucial eight-point advantage.

Chasing through on a Cleary bomb, he leapt to challenge Xavier Coates for the ball, claimed possession, and then gave the ball off for Moses Leota to put Alamoti over.

The Panthers then repelled five straight sets from the Storm on their own line, in what proved to be decisive plays on their way to another grand final win.

Earlier, Luai and Martin were both influential in the victory.

After Melbourne scored first through Harry Grant out of dummy-half in the 23rd minute, it was virtually all Penrith from that point.

The Panthers hit back almost immediately through a nice play on their left edge, when Alamoti passed the ball back for Luai to send Sunia Turuva over.

And with the Panthers behind 6-4 just before the break, it was Luai again involved in the game’s most crucial play.

After a surging To’o run put Penrith on the attack, Luai changed the point of attack on the last tackle when he flung the ball right to Cleary.

Cleary then hit Martin with a short ball, allowing the edge forward to hit a hole and give the Panthers their 10-6 advantage at the break.