Penrith Panthers 38–4 Melbourne Storm — Preliminary Final, 2023 NRL Finals Series
22 Sep 2023 · Accor Stadium, Sydney, NSW · Attendance: 35,578
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Preliminary Final, 2023 NRL finals series: Penrith Panthers 38–4 Melbourne Storm, at Accor Stadium, Sydney, NSW on 22 Sep 2023.
Sourcing caveat: Justin Olam's try minute has a minor discrepancy across sources (10' vs 16'); 10' is used here as the more internally consistent figure. No official player-of-the-match award exists for NRL preliminary finals.
Scoring timeline
| 4′ | Penrith Panthers — try, To'o |
| 10′ | Melbourne Storm — try, Olam |
| 23′ | Penrith Panthers — try, To'o |
| 27′ | Penrith Panthers — try, Turuva |
| 53′ | Penrith Panthers — try, Cleary |
| 56′ | Penrith Panthers — try, Edwards |
| 70′ | Penrith Panthers — try, To'o |
Tries with a sourced minute, in order scored, with the conversion kicked/missed alongside each one where source data lets us match a kicker to that specific try. Tries whose exact minute isn't recorded in available sources appear in the Scorers table below but not here; goal tallies we can't attribute to one specific try are shown as descriptive text in Scorers rather than guessed into this timeline.
Scorers
| Penrith Panthers | Tries: To'o 4'; To'o 23'; Turuva 27'; Cleary 53'; Edwards 56'; To'o 70' Goals: Cleary (5/6 conversions); Cleary — penalty goal 17'; Cleary — penalty goal 75' |
| Melbourne Storm | Tries: Olam 10' Goals: (0/1 conversions) |
Team sheets
| Penrith Panthers | Melbourne Storm | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dylan Edwards | Fullback | Nick Meaney | 1 |
| 2 | Sunia Turuva | Wing | Will Warbrick | 2 |
| 3 | Izack Tago | Centre | Marion Seve | 3 |
| 4 | Stephen Crichton | Centre | Justin Olam | 4 |
| 5 | Brian To'o | Wing | Reimis Smith | 5 |
| 6 | Jarome Luai | Five-eighth | Cameron Munster | 6 |
| 7 | Nathan Cleary | Halfback | Jahrome Hughes | 7 |
| 8 | Moses Leota | Prop | Tui Kamikamica | 8 |
| 9 | Mitch Kenny | Hooker | Bronson Garlick | 9 |
| 10 | James Fisher-Harris | Prop | Nelson Asofa-Solomona | 10 |
| 11 | Scott Sorensen | Second Row | Trent Loiero | 11 |
| 12 | Liam Martin | Second Row | Eliesa Katoa | 12 |
| 13 | Isaah Yeo | Lock | Josh King | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Jack Cogger | Harry Grant | 14 | |
| 15 | Lindsay Smith | Christian Welch | 15 | |
| 16 | Spencer Leniu | Tom Eisenhuth | 16 | |
| 17 | Luke Garner | Tariq Sims | 17 | |
| Ivan Cleary | Coach | Craig Bellamy | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Adam Gee |
Match report
Penrith extended their finals dominance with a record-breaking 38-4 preliminary final win over Melbourne Storm at Accor Stadium on 22 September 2023, booking a fourth consecutive grand final appearance. Brian To'o struck inside four minutes off a Storm ruck infringement, but Justin Olam hit back almost immediately to level the scores 4-4. From there the defending premiers took control: To'o crossed again in the 23rd minute, and Jarome Luai's quick hands sent Sunia Turuva over in the corner to make it 18-4 at halftime, with Nathan Cleary adding a penalty goal along the way. The Panthers pulled clear after the break as Liam Martin's incisive running set up Cleary for a try, before Dylan Edwards finished off a slick passage of play. To'o completed his hat-trick in the 70th minute and Cleary's second penalty goal rounded out the 34-point margin — the largest in NRL preliminary final history. To'o (164 running metres, four line breaks) and skipper Isaah Yeo (188 running metres, 34 tackles) were among Penrith's best, while Storm coach Craig Bellamy lamented his side's early handling errors.