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Melbourne must use the pain and lessons from their defeat to Penrith as the catalyst towards an elusive premiership.

Craig Bellamy wants Melbourne to use the fuel of a grand final defeat to the all-conquering Penrith Panthers as a springboard to their first premiership of the post-Cameron Smith era.

Bellamy's side were beaten 14-6 at Accor Stadium on Sunday, with the legendary Storm coach conceding his side lacked the punch of Nelson Asofa-Solomona in matching the Panthers in the middle of the field.

Asofa-Solomona will return to the Storm side next season after serving the remaining four games of his NRL suspension and his intimidating presence will be complemented by the acquisition of prop Stefano Utoikamanu from Wests Tigers.

Penrith's march to four-straight premierships was fuelled by the 2020 grand final loss to the Storm and Bellamy hopes that with time his troops can flip the script and ensure they are the side lifting the title at the end of the season.

"Hopefully we'll be wiser for tonight," Bellamy said.

"We can learn a few things and I don't think we're going to lose too many of our squad.

"There's a theory you have to lose one to win one because at the end of the day we were outplayed.

"They stuck to what they know they're good at and they were just that little bit better than us." 

Not a single Storm forward made north of 100 metres and without their spiritual forward leader in Asofa-Solomona, Melbourne struggled to contain the Penrith pack. 

"We did miss him, without a doubt," Bellamy said.

"I'd be lying if I said we didn't miss him because we were struggling to make metres early and that's one of his real strengths." 

Captain Harry Grant, meanwhile, said the Storm were shown how to handle the big moments by the Panthers. 

"We've had an incredible season and I think we learned how hard it is to get here over the last few years," Grant said. 

"We thoroughly enjoyed this week, but we probably learned what this week's all about and what it takes to take your game to the next level. 

"Once you do get here, it's even harder to win and it just goes to show Penrith for the 'been here, done it'.

"You've got to give them a lot of credit and a lot of respect for what they've done over the past four or five years.

"For our guys, this was the biggest game of our careers, so that's a real lesson.

"We're keeping our squad together. We're adding to our squad and we'll be more experienced and better for the run next season."