In the end it was one player in particular, more particularly the boot of one player, Nathan Cleary, that proved the difference in a game that finished two tries apiece.

It showed why he was the short-priced favourite for the Clive Churchill Medal, the punters who did jump on him cleaning up after fulltime.

It followed a familiar script for the Panthers, a team that's won its reputation over the last two seasons with swagger and flair, but won its title through defensive grit and graft.

That the players decided it would appear self-evident, but it came in stark contrast to the build-up that centred almost entirely on the coaches.

For Wayne Bennett, the story-line was his pursuit of an eighth premiership at a third club. For it to come 11 years after his last, and 28 years after his first, would have made it his greatest triumph.

For Ivan Cleary, it was the ultimate validation, bringing a flag to the club that sacked him and then spent millions bringing him back. Had he not got over the line in this one, there was a reasonable school of thought he never would.

He had coached the second most games in NRL history without winning a premiership. Bennett himself remarked in the post-game it was something of a "gorilla on his back."

Cleary didn't disagree when the analogy was put to him.

"I couldn't bear thinking about losing today," he said.

"Personally, since I was a fan, a player, an assistant coach, a coach, it's probably 45 years of never winning a grand final, so I'm going to make this one last."

It's now one of those statistics that fades into irrelevance.

Bennett obviously won't follow, he'll coach on, though the result was ultimate proof of what he's always espoused; a coach's role is to get a team to the decider. It's up to them from there.

As such, despite all the talk around the coaches in the build-up, it was always going to come down to the players on the park. Those in Panthers garb were simply better for longer stretches.

Remarkably so given the walking wounded that admittedly gave Cleary some sleepless nights through nightmares about five or six players dropping like flies under the bright lights.

"I reckon there was at least five that probably shouldn't have been playing today," Cleary said.

"I don't say that lightly. It was a calculated risk on a lot of boys.

"I actually woke up at two o'clock this morning and I couldn't get back to sleep. I was thinking, 'honestly, three or four of them could have been gone by 10 minutes'. It was calculated. They refused not to play.

"'Fish', Moses [Leota], Dyl Edwards has had a broken foot for a month. He has not trained. He's been walking around on crutches every week, then goes out and plays.

"I don't understand how that can happen. I guess that just sums up the bond. What we have been able to do is we've had a lot of guys play injured throughout the season.

"They created this culture where no one wanted to be the one to put their hand up and say they couldn't play. I don't know, it's hard to explain. It's incredible."

They needed all of that grit in a game that saw them in control, but never over the line until the final bell, with the Rabbitohs going desperately close to pulling it out of the fire late.

Cody Walker created three tries in the match, the first a weaving 40-metre solo try in the first half, but it was the one he gifted Panthers flyer Stephen Crichton with 14 minutes left that proved the killer blow.

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The all or nothing pass perhaps finally knocked Brett Kimmorley off the perch when it comes to the most famous intercepts in big games.

Still, a script beyond what Souths owner Russell Crowe could have dreamed up seemed in the offing late when Alex Johnston crossed in the corner to get within two with six minutes left.

It gave departing favourite son Adam Reynolds, who carried a well publicised groin injury into the game, the chance to level up with a sideline conversion.

His attempt shaved the outside of the far upright, with Penrith playing the game out from there to seal the club's third premiership.

It seemed the way things were heading from the outset, with the Panthers enjoying the weight of possession early and posting first points through Matt Burton in the 16th minute. Cleary converted from the sideline for a 6-0 lead.

It was short-lived, with Walker beating four defenders on a scything run to the try-line against the run of play, Reynolds levelling up from in front to lock the scores after 22 minutes.

It was a fair reflection of the opening 40 where the was little between the combatants, Penrith with their noses in front at halftime via a 32nd minute penalty goal to Cleary.

They seemed further ahead in the battle and were entitled to be further in front having enjoyed near 60 per cent of the footy.

The Rabbitohs levelled up five minutes into the second stanza via a Reynolds penalty goal, though the Panthers continued to enjoy a glut of possession.

The Rabbitohs repeatedly turned them away, so it seemed extra cruel that the match-winning points were gifted to Crichton by Walker in the 66th minute.

Cleary made no mistake with the extras, pushing the lead out to six with 12 minutes to play. Walker created the next try, this time for Johnston in the corner, but Reynolds couldn't land the equaliser.

It left the Panthers clinging to a two-point lead with five minutes left, one they were good enough to hold onto to the final bell.

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