In 2019 many expected Penrith to be at a similar level. They were top four morals.

On Saturday at Bathurst, though, the old chocolate soldiers resembled more of a melted freddo frog - they were a mess.

Errors at costly moments resigned Ivan Cleary's Panthers to their 18^th loss in 20 games against the Storm, the Melbourne club racking up a resounding 32-2 victory in freezing conditions at Carrington Park.

Cleary described the majority of his side's second half as awful and at times inept.

He said the Panthers' inability to handle adversity was "concerning" ahead of what shapes as a massive clash for Cleary next week against his old club Wests Tigers.

Cleary said there wasn't much in the game until the 46^th minute when another spilled grubber from fullback Dylan Edwards resulted in a Brodie Croft try and a 14-2 lead for the Storm.

"I thought our boys really failed to deal with that and from then on we were awful," Cleary said.

"I thought we started the second half pretty well. That try that took them ahead 14-2 we didn't cope with that ... all parts of our game were inept.

"I thought we needed to finish that game off way better, it's extremely disappointing."

A strong crowd of 10,973 people packed Carrington Park for the annual Bathurst clash and had plenty to cheer about early as the Panthers skipped to a 2-nil lead on the back of a penalty goal from Orange-born five-eighth James Maloney.

Moments later the Storm hit the lead, though, Cameron Munster pouncing on his own kick that was spilled by Edwards at the back to gift the visitors a 6-2 lead.

That advantage was soon extended to 8-2 on the back of a successful Cam Smith penalty goal, that margin remained until the break.

Then after half-time Croft bagged his four-pointer - off the back of another spilled Edwards attempted regather - and the Storm then blew past Penrith.

Further tries to Josh Addo-Carr, Marion Seve's debut four-pointer in the NRL and a Jesse Bromwich barge-over lifted the Storm to a comprehensive 30-point win.

Bellamy called his side's first half gutsy and Melbourne's second half onslaught was reward for a torrid 10 minutes defending their line in that initial 40 minutes.

"That was an important period of the game for us. We scored that try and didn't touch the ball for another 10 minutes," he said.

"I wouldn't say I was glad it happened, but it gives you a bit of an idea of what sort of team you've got and there was a lot of effort there.

"We did a tremendous job there tonight. I was real proud of the way they got through that."

Bellamy reserved special praise for young replacement Seve, who scored his first try in just his second game, and also his star five-eighth Munster, the Queensland and Australian representative pulling off two key one-on-one steals at big moments in the game.

"He's got light fingers hasn't he ... he's one hell of a player," the premiership-winning coach grinned.