Winning two premierships in a row brings a new set of opponents,including historical enemies who exist only in fading newspaper pages and who can’t be defeated on the field,such as Jack Gibson’s triple champions of 1981-83. Now,with Penrith having won three straight premierships,all the champions of history become the standard against how the team,coach and captain are measured. Penrith can always claim they have achieved this in the salary cap era.

The grand final loss will haunt the Broncos. Reynolds was brought to the club to both calm and coax his teammates. Questions will be asked why he didn’t temper the rush of blood in his young team as it sought to build the score with a 16-point lead.

Brisbane coach Kevin Walters will have a hundred nights staring at his bedroom ceiling. He has spent 20 years chasing the top job at the club where he won five premierships and must know success as a coach is more elusive. After the match,he looked hollowed out. This happens when you make rugby league more than a game.

The game began like a violent storm,and soon there was wreckage across the field,both in HIAs and errors with the ball.

In such a contest of those contradictory qualities – fury and finesse – Brisbane made most of the mistakes,completing only 11 of 19 sets,compared to the Panthers 18 of 19. This suggested a calm would follow the half-time break,with Penrith grinding out the second half,capitalising on Brisbane’s depleted energy. But the storm had not blown its last breath.

Brisbane gained a second wind,with Mam’s three tries. His treble followed two in the first half,which also came when least expected.

And then came Cleary,now a dual Clive Churchill medallist. His father helped,too,replacing injured five-eighth Jarome Luai with Jack Cogger,who allowed Cleary to play wider.

Apart from Cleary’s heroics,the other ingredient in the Panthers’ success was their bench. It was superior to Brisbane’s,demonstrating yet again that the NRL is now a 17-man game.

Superlatives should be bees that sting once and die. Yet,the most overused word in rugby league – “unbelievable” – persists. It,along with journalism’s new favourite,“a game for the ages”,should be retired and used exclusively for the 2023 grand final.

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