Let alone in a grand final.

Yet that's precisely the situation that awaits Penrith in Sunday's decider against Melbourne at ANZ Stadium.

This year's grand finale pits a Panthers side that has enjoyed the best season in living memory against the greatest powerhouse of the modern era.

Fittingly, it's the team that handled the NRL's lockdown the best against the side that has been galvanised by being forced out of home for four months.

It's also a clash of the game's best young talent in the likes of Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai trying to deny arguably the greatest of all time in Cameron Smith.

Penrith's players have just three grand finals between them.

Smith is on Sunday entering his eighth and potentially last if he chooses to retire.

The Storm captain also knows Penrith's position.

In 2006 he captained a Melbourne side to the decider with just one player who had been there before in Matt Geyer.

The Storm had finished eight points clear on top of the ladder and recorded six more wins than their grand final opponents Brisbane during the season.

This was the Broncos past their peak but crucially had 16 premierships between then.

They shocked Melbourne 15-8.

"Looking back at those two footy sides, they had big-game experience," Smith said.

"We were in that match for most of it but when it mattered, those big-game players came up with the players to get the victory.

"Guys like (Shaun) Berrigan, (Darren) Lockyer and Shane Webcke - they were fantastic that night.

"When you look at our team, we have some good experience there and we will need it to get us the victory this week."

Not that Smith is ready to write Penrith off, having watched them dominate the NRL in the most difficult of seasons.

"I can't say what they are feeling and how they will approach it," he said.

"They have a very experienced coach (Ivan Cleary) who has been on the big stage as a player so he knows exactly what will happen this week.

"I don't know why Penrith would feel any shock this week because they have been the best team all year.

"And they would have been really confident they would have been involved in this grand final. They have every reason to feel that."

If Penrith do come up trumps, they will match the efforts of their 1991 and 2003 title-winning sides who claimed the premiership with a crop of local talent.

They'd also break the record for the most consecutive wins in the NRL era at 18, with only the Sydney Roosters' streak of 19 straight in 1975 above them historically.

Fittingly, it was against the Storm that the Panthers' streak began, with a 21-14 win at Campbelltown in round six.

That victory was the first time critics stood up and took notice of Penrith this year, while it prompted Storm coach Craig Bellamy to question what type of team his side wanted to be.

But regardless, Panthers lock Isaah Yeo insisted that game cannot be used as a guide for how to topple Melbourne on Sunday night.

"You take confidence knowing you can beat them," Yeo said.

"But in terms of where we are now and where they are, it's totally different ends of the spectrum.

"They're in tremendous form obviously, it has only shown in the past few weeks.

"In big games they've put points on teams and played extremely well.

"They've been there before obviously.

"We know we need to be at our best capitalising on our opportunities to give ourselves a chance to win that game."

Australian Associated Press