Stunned Penrith players said there were “no words to explain” how they felt after watching Melbourne mock their Mt Druitt roots in footage which was used as motivation for last year’s epic preliminary final victory.

The Herald revealed after the gripping 10-6 win last year how Panthers assistant coach Cameron Ciraldo had shown the Mt Druitt-raised players social media footage of the Storm making fun of their blue-collar up-bringing during grand final celebrations the previous year.

As the two premiership heavyweights get set to meet in front of a packed Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night, Stephen Crichton and Brian To’o told the Herald that Storm halfback Jahrome Hughes - not Brandon Smith - was the chief antagonist.

And they confirmed Ciraldo, who had saved the original clip - published as an Instagram story and no longer available for public viewing - reminded the players in the days before the preliminary final: “You need to protect where you come from.”

“There was a short video,” Crichton told the Herald on Tuesday. “They were doing the [hand] signals and doing the dance.

“The boys didn’t want to use it as hate, where we came out and try to force things and give penalties away ... [but] ‘Ciro’ [Ciraldo] said, ‘You need to protect where you come from’.

“We play hard because not many people from Mt Druitt get into this position like us. When you see videos like that, they can’t stick up for themselves, but those of us on the field can. We played for the area and our families and it was good we could come away with the win.

“It was mainly Jahrome Hughes, he was on the drink, like most of the first-grade boys after you win a grand final. We did the exact same thing when we won a grand final. But it was a bit of motivation for us heading into that prelim.”