The Dolphins' loss on Sunday afternoon against a depleted Penrith side might have hindered their chances of playing finals footy this year - but head coach Wayne Bennett isn't fazed by the result.
After a slow start, the hosts hit the lead in the second-half in Redcliffe, before the reigning premiers proved too strong in the final stages to claim a 24-14 victory at Kayo Stadium.
Bennett's side showed plenty of fight and some flashes of brilliance to take it to the Panthers, but ultimately couldn't get over the line and now sit two wins outside the finals picture.
But with a bye next weekend and some easier opposition on the run home, Bennett believes the Dolphins are still in the hunt and should be confident after their Round 20 performance.
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"It will give us a bit of a clear run with six games to go until the playoffs start and we’re still in the mix," he said.
"We just played the number one team in the comp and we’ve got teams below that now to play… we’re playing pretty well too at the moment.
"I want us to keep playing on a consistent level and that will give us great confidence for the future. We’re building a club, we’re not looking for a quick fix here – it’s as simple as that."
Wayne Bennett backs Panthers for potential NRL premiership glory
With a host of key names rested after State of Origin, as well as star halfback Nathan Cleary still sidelined with a hamstring injury, Penrith managed to come away with a 10-point victory to cement their spot at the top of the NRL ladder heading into the business-end of their campaign.
Speaking to the media post-game, Bennett admitted there was no reason why the Panthers couldn't become the first team to win three-straight titles in close to four decades.
"We are 18 games into our life and these guys are back-to-back premiers… and they are leading the comp at the moment, aren’t they? We didn’t play a team of mugs," the legendary coach said.
"I loved what we did, I loved the way we came back and made a game of it. It could have got to 40-0 if we didn’t turn it around and it took us 15-20 minutes to do that.
“They’ve done a lot of wonderful things in the past three years. We’re gonna make mistakes that those teams aren’t gonna make, because we’re not at that level. We’re trying awful hard to be there and a lot of effort is going into it.
"I could find fault with a lot of things we did today, but I don’t want to – I want to recognise the effort that we did put into that game and how we stayed in it.
"There’s no reason why they can’t win three in a row – it’s not gonna be easy, but they know that."
