Shattered Storm centre Justin Olam knows he should have passed to Josh Addo-Carr and said he took “full responsibility” for his side’s heart-breaking loss, as Penrith hero Viliame Kikau was hailed the “Ferrari truck” by his elated teammates.

Kikau dragged himself off the BlueBet Stadium turf to charge to the other side of the field as the full-time siren sounded and somehow deny Olam what would have been the match-winning try in Thursday night’s extraordinary grand final replay.

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The passage of play, in which Kikau combined with Spencer Leniu and Tyrone May to prevent Olam grounding the ball over the tryline, is already an early contender for the most memorable moment of the 2021 NRL season.

Olam only had to pass to unmarked winger Addo-Carr for what would have been a certain try, and was doing his best to shake Kikau from his thoughts outside the sheds after the 12-10 loss.

“It’s all on me, looking back I should have passed the ball to Josh and I let the boys down - I let the team down,” said Olam. “I take full responsibility for the loss. I backed myself to get there, but they wanted it more - ‘Billy’ [Kikau] came up with a terrific try-saver.

“There’s nobody else to blame. It didn’t turn out the way I thought it was going to go. Kikau is a really good player. He’s on the other side of the field, and thank God I didn’t have to face him [until the end]. He does a lot of great things for his team. I heard his voice afterwards saying, ‘I’ve got him’.”

Kikau appeared to be obstructed by fellow Fijian and Storm prop Tui Kamikamica earlier in the play, but when he realised referee Grant Atkins was not going to blow a penalty, he hot-footed it to the far corner of the ground where Olam and Addo-Carr had a two-on-one overlap against Charlie Staines.

Staines is known as the “Ferrari”, but Kikau was happy to embrace an even better moniker after his 80th-minute inspirational act.