“They came in in 1967 and we have played in four grand finals and won two and lost two.

“I think apart from those four games this is the biggest game in the club’s history.

“I say that because it is almost like two seasons wrapped up in one and everything seems to hinge on the result of this game as to whether they get a crack at another premiership.

“They started the season red hot with 12 wins and now they have got to beat fully fit and rested Storm side. This is this young Panthers side’s greatest challenge.”

Penrith are on the hunt for revenge after Melbourne broke their hearts in last year’s grand final — and what better way to get back at them by robbing their shot at going back to back.

Melbourne go into this clash with the upper hand as minor premiers, defending premiers and having had a week off after winning their qualifying final. However, league great Ryan Girdler believes there is a way to beat them — and the Eels provided the blueprint back in Round 24.

“We’ve just got to go back and look at how the Eels pulled Melbourne apart a couple of weeks ago,” he told Triple M.

“If you’re going to beat the Melbourne Storm, you can only go through their middle. If you go through their middle, we saw Parramatta have got a really aggressive pack and they went at it with Penrith last week.

“Penrith got the win and whether they got over Parramatta in the middle, it doesn’t really matter, but they held them in the middle and they got the result. So they need to go with that attitude again.”

Girdler also pointed out that the indestructible Storm actually have a “chink” in their armour, which is something Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary can exploit.

“In the back end of the year, if I saw a little chink in Melbourne’s armour, it was under the high ball,” he said.

“Ryan Papenhuyzen’s come back and he’s getting better by the week but I still don’t think his confidence under the high ball is where it should be.

“He’s got a couple of wingers there, well Addo-Carr comes back, but there’s guys there that they can rattle.

“And they’ve got a couple of little defensive areas on the right edge that can be exploited.

“But to do that you need to be getting out of your back end, which is where Brian To’o comes in, getting into the red zone and getting into position to put those attacking kicks up.

“There’s no better exponent than Nathan Cleary. You’re only going to get a couple of opportunities against the Storm and you’ve got to be good enough to take them.”

Meanwhile, Panthers legend Mark Geyer wants to see the team’s two most destructive forwards start the game in Viliame Kikau and Tevita Pangai Jr.

Kikau has been starting off the bench in the last few games, along with Pangai Jr. However, given there’s been a forwards reshuffle due to an injury, Geyer may get his wish.

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