Friday, 21 September 2018:
 | | MATT MOYLAN of the Sharks takes on the defence during the NRL match between the Panthers and the Sharks at Panthers Stadium in Penrith, Australia. | |
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Billy Slater is unconcerned by the threat of a suspension hanging over his head for his fairytale grand final after powering Melbourne to a third straight decider with a 22-6 flogging of Cronulla on Friday night.
The retiring superstar put on a first-half clinic at AAMI Park, scoring two tries and setting up another to power the Storm to an unassailable 20-0 lead that the Sharks never looked like recovering from.
But it will be one of Slater's 14th minute try-saver on Sosaia Feki that will garner all the attention, after the veteran fullback was penalised for a last-ditch shoulder charge on the winger as he looked set to cross.
Slater will learn on Saturday whether he is charged, with even a grade-one offence earning him 200 demerit points and a suspension unless he can beat it at the judiciary on Tuesday night.
"I wasn't worried at the time," Slater said, without having seen a replay.
"When it was a penalty I thought what was the penalty for, but then I realised I got my body in an awkward position.
"I thought he was going to step inside me hence why I got my body in an awkward position.
"It's pretty hard to make a conventional tackle when you're going across at top speed trying to save a try like that ... It was just a collision."
Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan also backed Slater, and declared it would be unfair to rub the 35-year-old out of a seventh grand final over the hit.
"What do you want him to do there? For his team he needs to save a try there," Flanagan said.
"I thought he had a hand in there actually. He might've hit him with one shoulder and one hand."
It overshadowed a dominant showing by the Storm, who remain a chance of becoming the first team to go back-to-back in a unified competition since Brisbane in 1992-93.
They'll now play in their eighth grand final since 2006 -next Sunday against the winner of Saturday night's preliminary final between the Sydney Roosters and South Sydney.
In front of 26,621 fans, Slater was involved from the lead up of the Storm's opening try after he hit a gap from a Felise Kafusi ball and put Brodie Croft over in the 20th minute.
That opened the floodgates, with Slater slicing through Matt Moylan on the Sharks' left-edge 10 minutes later, before he had his second moments before the break when he dived onto a Cameron Smith grubber out of dummy-half.
The try came as a number of Sharks' forwards were distracted by a scuffle involving Andrew Fifita in back play, opening the gap for Slater to chase through.
It was a play that summed up Cronulla's opening 40 minutes, the Sharks lacking composure without injured co-captains Wade Graham and Paul Gallen.
They had 52 per cent of the ball and had more red-one play-the-balls than Melbourne, but had to wait until the 68th minute for retiring veteran Luke Lewis to score their only try.
