Penrith suffocate Parramatta in grand final to win back-to-back NRL titles

It is the kind of place from where historians retrieve their statistics to illustrate grandeur and glory. And it is where the Panthers reside after a grand final throughout which they turned the game of rugby league into an easy-to-use kitchen appliance and switched it to high for a good first-half chopping. At the 75-minute mark, Parramatta were still the off-cuts on the scrap heap.

In the past three years Penrith have won 67 of 78 their matches. It is the most dominant run since Parramatta won three consecutive titles in the early 1980s. This is a dynasty, however you spin it, and even losing Api Koroisau and Viliame Kikau next season will not change it.

It is just unfortunate for Parramatta, whose title drought will now stretch past the 36-year mark, for whom the occasion beckoned but the try line did not.

Again, it was the back of a big Edwards kick return as he regularly put the Panthers on the front foot. At that point Liam Martin looked as if he could score every time he touched the ball on the right and Kikau was busting through tackles for fun on the left.

with AAP