Storm hammer Penrith 37-10 in underwhelming top-of-the-table clash

Melbourne has won a top-of-the-table clash with the Penrith Panthers that failed to live up to the hype for a myriad of reasons, the Storm coasting home 37-10 in an empty Lang Park.

Victorian product Dean Ieremia scored his first hat-trick in just his seventh NRL game as the Storm held Penrith scoreless for almost 72 minutes of their 16th straight win.

Last year’s grand finalists played one of the games of the season in round three, which Penrith won 12-10, and were all set for the rematch this weekend that had the added excitement of being almost certainly a preview of this year’s decider.

But the bad news started after Origin II back at the end of June, when it was revealed that Nathan Cleary would miss at least six weeks. Then the league’s most dominant winger, Brian To’o, was ruled out. Penrith was also without starting representative forwards Api Koroisau, Isaah Yeo and James Fisher-Harris.

An emerging COVID-19 outbreak in south-east Queensland saw the game postponed from its scheduled Saturday night slot, then moved to a crowdless Sunday afternoon window, coinciding with a historically great day at the Tokyo Olympics that pulled even more focus from the home-and-away footy season.

The return of Harry Grant, and Ryan Papenhuyzen playing his second game back for Melbourne after a head knock in round 10, only served to widen the gap between the two sides.

Storm centre Reimis Smith started the scoring in the 10th minute on Sunday by powering over despite the attention of Matt Burton and Robert Jennings.

Ieremia scored on the end of a right-side shift, before latching onto a cross-field kick by winger Josh Addo-Carr in the 19th minute for number two.

A Papenhuyzen penalty goal sent the Storm to half-time with an 18-0 lead, and they resumed the scoring on 53 minutes off another Jahrome Hughes try assist, before Grant and Ieremia finished the try-scoring for Melbourne with 15 minutes left.

Brent Naden and Scott Sorensen notched consolation tries for Penrith in the dying minutes, before Papenhuyzen potted a field goal on the siren to ice the game.

Knights get back to their Best against Raiders

The return of youngster Bradman Best has lifted Newcastle to a comprehensive 34-24 NRL win over Canberra in Brisbane, with winger Enari Tuala scoring a hat-trick.

The 19-year-old centre, making an early return from an ankle injury, scored a try and set up two more for Tuala as the Knights ended a two-game losing run at an empty Suncorp Stadium.

The clash had been rescheduled from Saturday due to south-east Queensland’s snap COVID-19 lockdown.

Tuala was the beneficiary of Best’s dominant presence on the Knights’ left-hand side, claiming the first hat-trick of his NRL career.

Best ended the game with five tackle busts and a line break in a sensational display.

Another Knights superstar, fullback Kalyn Ponga, sealed the win with their sixth try of the match when he broke through a tired tackle by Corey Harawira-Naera and sprinted clear.

Ponga had two try assists in a strong display while halfback Jake Clifford also set up a couple of tries for the Knights.

The victory keeps Newcastle firmly in the finals hunt, moving them to 18 points along with the Raiders, Sharks and St George Illawarra.

The loss ends a three-game winning run for the Raiders with reigning Dally M medallist Jack Wighton unable to make an impact on his return from a rib complaint.

In the second game of a Suncorp triple-header on Sunday, Melbourne Storm lead the Penrith Panthers.

St George Illawarra Dragons will do battle with South Sydney Rabbitohs this evening.

AAP