Which isn’t to take anything away from the Storm. They were the better team on the night.

But for a Penrith outfit that was the youngest and most inexperienced grand final side in some time, those little moments started to snowball until they became an avalanche.

And yet, those young Panthers fought, scoring just as many sad as Melbourne in the end and only going down by six points. But it didn’t mean it hurt any less.

“It was pretty grim,” Mansour said.

“We were definitely mourning after that game. Losing a grand finale pretty much is the worst thing that could happen to you in your career, it hurts the most.

“It’s a great year, you get to the grand finale but the feeling of losing it and getting so close was devastating.”

But as devastating as it was and as sombre as things were in the sheds at halftime, Mansour does remember something else.

“I do remember that everyone walked away from it with a feeling that we were going to be back on that stage and playing in a grand final,” he added.

“There was always a belief that success was going to come.”

Like three-straight premierships and five consecutive grand finals? That’d be stretching it, with Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary admitting earlier this year the incredible run the team has been on “hasn’t hit home yet”.

But with all this talk of dynasties and greatness, how fitting would it be for these Panthers, even if only nine players remain from that 2020 squad, can get it done against the same team that denied them their first shot at the premiership four years ago .

Ivan Cleary said last year that the Storm “have always been the benchmark” since his coaching career began and as historic as this run from Penrith has been, it is easy to forget not just how dominant Melbourne has been since entering the NRL but also how consistent Craig Bellamy’s side has been since 2020 too.

The Storm have added two minor premierships and only finished outside of the top four once, placing fifth in the regular season in 2022.

And while this may be Melbourne’s first grand final appearance since 2020, it is the 11th overall — which is still easily the most in the NRL era ahead of the Roosters with eight.

A lot has changed since the last time the Panthers met the Storm in the final game of the season.

Only that night, just three members of Penrith’s squad had played in a decider previously compared to 11 for Melbourne, boasting a total of 34 grand final appearances between them.

Meanwhile, with 1497 NRL games of experience in its 17, Penrith was the least experienced side to play in a grand final since South Sydney in 2014, while the Panthers’ average age of 25.6 years also made them the youngest since that Rabbitohs team.

“There were lessons there which I think we’ve probably taken with us over this whole four, five-year period,” Panthers captain Isaah Yeo told foxsports.com.au this week.

“Obviously they were a pretty experienced team and they had been there a lot of times and won big games before and we were pretty much kids to be fair. We hadn’t been in that environment before.”

It is a very different story this time around.

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Melbourne has just nine games of grand final experience in its current squad, with Cameron Munster and Christian Welch constituting seven of those games.

Penrith, on the other hand, has 39 games of experience to draw on and that number will increase to 42 if Scott Sorensen is able to recover from a hamstring injury.

While it is obviously a stark contrast to the Penrith line-up that ran out in 2020, Mansour said experience alone would not have necessarily meant a different result on that night.

“There were so many learning experiences from that 2020 year,” Mansour said.

“I thought we handled the year as a whole pretty well. We always trained for anything that might happen in a game. We kind of put a lot of simulations in training and got exposed to a lot of different experiences.

“Unfortunately, when you look at the grand final, there were so many moments we couldn’t train for or prepare for. That first half in particular, I reflect back on that game and so many things went against us and everything went for the Melbourne Storm and sometimes that’s all it takes in those big games.

“It was almost like anytime we tried building momentum we’d get kicked in the guts and come crashing down. Not taking anything away from Melbourne, but there were a lot of big calls that were made against us.

“I guess ultimately as well the grand final week and all that it brings – the distractions, the hype – you have to stay composed and all of that experience was just invaluable for the Panthers in how they’ve gone on to be such a successful franchise.”

For Panthers hooker Mitch Kenny, who didn’t play in that grand final but was a part of the squad and has since become a key part of Penrith’s spine, there was one key lesson to come out of that 26-20 loss to Melbourne.

“I don’t think we were that ruthless of a side back then and I think the Storm taught us a lesson that day,” he told foxsports.com.au.

“They had some old heads in that side like the Bromwich brothers and Kaufusi who niggled and stuff like that and they tried to beat you in between the ears as much as they do physically.

“I think we learned a little bit from that and stopped trying to be nice guys I guess and sort of embrace not caring what people thought of us and playing with more of a ruthless edge, which (meant we) probably copped a little more backlash gone by in years.

“But at the end of the day, it’s a results driven business and we were just trying to win games and we just thought trying to play a little bit harder in different areas would help us and it has.”

Mansour remembered it differently. For him it wasn’t so much that the team lacked the killer edge. In fact, he saw it in the way the Panthers made a statement on the opening kick-off.

“The thing with that grand finale as well is if you look at the way we started, straight off the kick-off we absolutely bashed the receiver, almost took Brenko Lee out on the sideline and I think the next tackle they conceded a knock- on,” Mansour said.

“… We definitely had the ruthlessness and they were just as ruthless as us but I feel like they just capitalized on big moments and we didn’t.”

That comes with experience, which is something Penrith has plenty of now.

In that way, the roles have been reversed. But in lots of other ways, this is the same Melbourne machine under Bellamy — it just looks slightly different.

There are still the same core pieces. Munster and Hughes once again line up in the halves, with Papenhuyzen at the back.

Of course, Smith is no longer there but the Storm have quite the replacement in the now reigning Dally M Hooker of the Year, Harry Grant.

The biggest difference is the absence of the Bromwich brothers and Dale Finucane, who had a combined 12 games of grand final experience.

But there is one other constant, as has been the case for over two decades now. The Storm still have a mastermind up in the coach’s box, who this Sunday equals Wayne Bennett with his 10th grand final appearance.

As was the case back in 2020, this year’s grand final also pits the competition’s best teams during the regular season, and the two with the best defensive record, against each other.

The Panthers will obviously be hoping for a different result because as much as winning three-straight premierships helps ease some of the pain, that “devastating” feeling Mansour described doesn’t go away completely.

It lingers, only amplified by questions this week of what could have been. Now, four years later and already with three premiership rings, the Panthers have a chance to further cement their dynasty status.

A loss won’t take away from anything they have achieved already. But it will leave the playing group with that same feeling.

That feeling of losing, which Liam Martin said “burns with you for a lot longer”.

“Winning is incredible, it’s so special and you enjoy it thoroughly,” he added.

“But the losing lights something inside you. You don’t want to feel that again.”