Storm lock up minor premiership as Panthers lose Cleary

The Melbourne Storm have one hand on the JJ Giltinan Shield after taking down the Panthers 24-22 in a high-quality contest at BlueBet Stadium on Thursday night.

Craig Bellamy’s men now have a four-point lead over the Panthers with three games to go in the regular season and look all but assured of finishing on top for the fifth time in the past nine years.

On top of the pain of losing, the Panthers also had star halfback Nathan Cleary suffer a shoulder injury late in the match.

A mistake by Daine Laurie deep in his own territory handed the Storm an early chance and they capitalised through winger Grant Anderson in the left corner.

The Storm were in again in the 15th minute when Will Warbrick flew high to tap a Jahrome Hughes bomb down to Eli Katoa who crashed over. Nick Meaney converted for a 10-0 lead.

The premiers got on the board in the 22nd minute when Isaah Yeo delivered the final pass for edge back-rower Lindsay Smith to cross for his fourth try of the season. 

Three minutes later the Panthers levelled the scores at 10-10 after Jarome Luai nudged a grubber into the in-goal and Izack Tago put in a superb chase to touch down just inside the dead ball line.

With half-time approaching the Storm kicked to Warbrick's corner again and he tapped the ball back for Katoa in a replay of the game's opening try. Meaney added the extras for a 16-10 lead.

Melbourne should have taken that advantage to the sheds but a mistake from a 20-metre restart when Jack Howarth was in front of Ryan Papenhuyzen when the fullback tried to find the line with a long kick downfield. The resulting penalty for offside gave Cleary the chance to close the gap to 16-12 at half-time.

Seven minutes into the second half the Panthers hit the front when Jarome Luai found Mavrik Geyer who sent it on to Casey McLean and the young centre grubbered ahead for Dylan Edwards to score.

The game turned in the 55th minute when Storm prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona was sin binned for a high tackle that resulted in Laurie leaving the field for a HIA and Cameron Munster also taking contact to the face from his teammate's arm in the tackle.

The Panthers cashed in immediately on their one-man advantage when a slick right-side raid finished with McLean sliding into the corner for a 22-16 lead.

Just four minutes the Storm squared things up again when Tyran Wishart went to the line and sold a huge dummy to deceive two Panthers defenders to cross for his 10th try of the season.

A massive blow for the Panthers in the 67th minute when Cleary left the field before the Storm took the lead in the 73rd minute after James Fisher-Harris was ruled to have made late contact with Hughes after he passed the ball.

A penalty against Smith for a high tackle with three minutes to play carried the Storm down field before another penalty against Izack Tago for an escort gave Melbourne the chance to close out the victory.