Penrith superstar Nathan Cleary suffers concussion minutes into blockbuster clash against Melbourne Storm

Penrith superstar Nathan Cleary has suffered a concussion minutes into Thursday night’s blockbuster against Melbourne Storm.

The Storm emerged 30-24 victors in a war of attrition, but the Panthers deserved plenty of applause for pushing the home side to the final whistle.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Cleary concussed in freak collision.

Already missing fullback Dylan Edwards, the Panthers lost Cleary just seven minutes in the NRL grand final rematch after a freak collision with Jahrome Hughes.

There was a scramble of bodies after Melbourne fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen put a kick through and Cleary jumped backwards into Hughes before landing on his head.

He was assisted from the field, with the HIA ruled a category one, which ended his night, with young gun Blaize Talagi making his Panthers debut as Cleary’s replacement.

With Jarome Luai now at Wests Tigers, that left 21-year-old Jack Cole to call the shots in just his 13th NRL match, but the youngster rose to the challenge.

There was more carnage later in the first half when Nick Meaney came off second best in a big head clash with Storm teammate Nelson Asofa-Solomona.

Play was stopped for Meaney to come from the field and be assessed.

The Storm said at half-time he suffered a suspected fractured jaw and won’t return in the second half.

Melbourne copped another blow after the break with Grant Anderson limping off with what initially looked like a serious knee injury.

But in good news, he was quickly cleared of a major damage and even returned to the field with heavy strapping late on.

The Storm lived up to their pre-match favouritism early, with tries to Anderson and second-rower Eliesa Katoa as well as a penalty setting up a 14-0 lead after 20 minutes.

But with scrappers like Liam Henry and Liam Martin digging in, Penrith clawed their way back, with centre Paul Alamoti scoring twice, with Cole having a hand in both.

Penrith hit the front 16-14 four minutes after halftime when Casey McLean scored the easiest of tries off a 20-metre scrum.

However, the lead only lasted two minutes before Xavier Coates leapt high above the pink pack to put the Storm back in front, with Tyran Wishart then extending it to 24-16.

In typical Panthers fashion, they refused to be beaten, with winger Brian To’o making it a four-point margin.

Papenhuyzen crossed in the 72nd minute, but then To’o bagged his second in the 75th minute to set up a grand-stand finish, but the Storm defence held firm.

- With AAP