- Club look to ruin Penrith’s run to a fourth straight title
- Kick-off at Accor Stadium in Sydney is on Sunday at 7.30pm
The Melbourne Storm usually leave no stone unturned in their preparations for big matches, but a wild dance party next to their team hotel the night before the NRL grand final will not have done them any favors ahead of their clash with Penrith.
Sydney’s Knockout Festival was held at the Sydney Showground, just opposite the Storm’s Olympic Park accommodation in Homebush in the city’s west.
The sold-out event saw 40 music acts perform on three stages, from 2pm until late on the grand final night.
Described as the largest ‘harder styles’ festival in the southern hemisphere, the party featured stars including rapper 21 Savage, grime hitmaker Skepta and international DJs including N-Virtal and Gunz for Hire.
It attracted huge numbers of revelers, some wearing daring outfits to what organizers called ‘Australia’s largest outdoor music festival’.
The timing couldn’t have been worse for the Storm, who will need all their energy to stop Penrith from clinching a fourth straight premiership when the match kicks off at 7.30pm on Sunday.
Penrith were disrupted by the knockout party the night before their 2022 grand final win over Parramatta, with some Panthers stars telling team staff they could feel the bass from the event through their hotel windows, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
This year they chose to stay in Parramatta, west of the Olympic Park, rather than sleep in Homebush again.
Thousands of partygoers (pictured) partied late into the night on Saturday as they enjoyed the Knockout music festival in Sydney – right next to the Melbourne Storm team hotel
Described as the largest ‘harder styles’ festival in the southern hemisphere, the annual event threw Penrith’s preparations for the 2021 grand final into disarray when players struggled to sleep.
Melbourne came out on top the last time the teams met in a grand final, winning the 2020 decider 26-20.
But while much has been made of the roster changes Penrith has undergone over the past four years, the Storm are undergoing their own regeneration.
Only four players from the Storm 2020 grand final squad – Jahrome Hughes, Cameron Munster, Ryan Papenhuyzen and Christian Welch – will face Penrith at Accor Stadium.
And while Penrith’s squad is now largely made up of players who have come through their famous junior nursery, nine of the Storm’s 17 were recruited after the 2020 win.
“I was just looking at the last team we had in a grand final in 2020. Nine of those 18 played against us this year,” Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy said.
Storm stars, including Ryan Papenhuyzen (photo), stayed across the street from the dance party, which featured 40 musical acts and lasted well into the night
While partygoers like these two Knockout fans (pictured) were having a blast in Homebush, the Panthers opted to stay further west in Parramatta to avoid all the noise.
“After losing them and obviously Cameron (Smith) being the big loss, our side has changed a lot in four years. It has changed enormously.’
Newly minted Dally M medalist Hughes, crafty five-eighth Munster and athletic fullback Papenhuyzen were all at the back on the 2020 grand final day, with the latter of that trio winning the Clive Churchill Medal as man of the match.
But with Smith still the chief architect at the time, Bellamy said the team had undergone a change since 2020 and was quick to point out that injuries had meant the current spine was only just clicking into gear.
“It’s a different era with those guys,” he said.
“These guys really just start together. Frankly, they still have a while to go.”