Melbourne and Penrith lock horns in a repeat of the 2020 NRL grand final, which saw the Storm emerge victorious before the Panthers responded in style with three straight premiership wins thereafter.
Ivan Cleary's side will be looking to make it four on the bounce when they meet the minor premiers in Sydney, with Nathan Cleary entering the clash under an injury cloud.
The Panthers have scored first in each one of their premiership wins so far with Mitch Kenny, Stephen Crichton and Matt Burton all crossing the stripe in the early exchanges.
However, the last time these sides met in the decider, it was the Storm who struck the first blow when Justin Olam touched down after just three minutes.
Who will get their side off to the perfect start this year?
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Penrith almost got off to the perfect start when Moses Leota burst through the line and produced an offload for Isaah Yeo close to the line.
Yet the lock was unable to reel in the ball as the first chance of the game went amiss.
Melbourne then responded with some great field position off the back of a six-again call but were unable to break the Panthers' defence.
An errant offload from Jarome Luai gifted the Storm another great opportunity inside their own 40m zone but Jack Howarth dropped the pill to alleviate the pressure.
The error was then compounded with a penalty that allowed Ivan Cleary's side a chance to attack, with Yeo pulled down in a desperate tackle as he tried to charge his way over after some ad-lib footy on the last tackle.
Izack Tago then forced a repeat set with a dab into the in-goal that Xavier Coates had to deal with as Brian To'o lurked.
Papenhuyzen put the drop-out over the sidelines and then was lucky to escape a captain's challenge for a lost ball in a tackle from Jarome Luai.
The Bunker supported Ashley Klein's initial decision of strip, and the Storm made the most of the opportunity when captain Harry Grant darted his way over from dummy-half after 23 minutes on the clock.
