How a wild dance party could have put a dent in the Melbourne Storm’s hopes of winning the NRL grand final

The Melbourne Storm usually leave no stone unturned in their preparations for big matches – but a wild dance party next door to their team hotel the night before the NRL grand final won’t have done them any favours for their clash with Penrith.

Sydney’s Knockout Festival was held at Sydney Showground, just across from the Storm’s accommodation at Olympic Park in Homebush in the city’s west.

The sold-out event showcased 40 musical acts performing on three stages from 2pm until well into the night on grand final eve.

Described as the biggest ‘harder styles’ festival in the southern hemisphere, the party featured stars like rapper 21 Savage, grime hit-maker Skepta and international DJs including N-Virtal and Gunz for Hire.

It attracted huge numbers of revellers, with some wearing daring outfits to what organisers called ‘Australia’s largest outdoor music festival’. 

The timing couldn’t have been worse for the Storm, who will need every ounce of their energy to stop Penrith from racking up a fourth straight premiership when the match kicks off at 7.30pm Sunday.

Penrith were disturbed by the Knockout party the night before their 2022 grand final win over Parramatta, with some Panthers stars telling team staff that they could feel the bass from the event through their hotel windows, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

This year they elected to stay in Parramatta, west of Olympic Park, rather than sleep in Homebush again.

Described as the biggest ‘harder styles’ festival in the southern hemisphere, the annual event set back Penrith’s 2021 grand final preparations when players had trouble sleeping

Melbourne came out on top the last time the sides met in a grand final, winning the 2020 decider 26-20.

But while much has been made of roster changes undergone at Penrith over the past four years, the Storm have been undergoing their own regeneration.

Just four players from the Storm’s 2020 grand final team – Jahrome Hughes, Cameron Munster, Ryan Papenhuyzen and Christian Welch – will face Penrith at Accor Stadium.

And while Penrith’s squad is now largely comprised of players who came through their famous junior nursery, nine of the Storm’s 17 were recruited after the 2020 triumph.

‘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 (pictured) were staying just across the road from the dance party, which featured 40 musical acts and lasted well into the night

While party-goers like these two Knockout fans (pictured) lived it up in Homebush, the Panthers elected to stay further west in Parramatta to avoid all the noise

‘Having lost them and obviously Cameron (Smith) being the big loss, our side has changed a lot in four years. It’s changed a heap.’

Newly-minted Dally M Medallist Hughes, wily five-eighth Munster and athletic fullback Papenhuyzen were all in the spine on grand final day in 2020, with the last 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 shift since 2020, and was quick to point out injuries had meant the current spine was only just clicking into gear.

‘It’s a different era with those guys,’ he said.

‘These guys are just basically starting together. They’ve still got a bit to go, to be quite honest.’