Ivan Cleary admits his side were outhunted in their qualifying final loss to South Sydney a month ago.
The Panthers went into that clash as favourites but were forced to go the long way round to make the Grand Final after going down 16-10 to the Bunnies in week one of the finals.
They've since made it through two hard-fought clashes against Parramatta and the Storm, while Souths had the week off before easily taking care of Manly in the prelim.
Speaking ahead of the decider, Cleary admits Sunday's opponents wanted it more in their last meeting.
"We probably just were a bit off and in a big game that can the difference," Cleary said on Saturday.
"They were probably just a little bit hungrier than us that night. It looked like they put a lot into that game, which of course we did as well but in the end we left Townsville that night feeling like we didn't quite put our best foot forward and I feel like we've done that in the last couple of weeks.
"We've corrected a few things and we've improved gradually since then."
Cleary also spoke about the lessons his side learned from their loss to Melbourne in last year's Grand Final.
After brushing aside the opposition on their way to the match, the Storm led 26-0 before Penrith scored the final 20 points of the contest.
"Having won 17 straight, it was pretty much plain sailing most of the time," Cleary said of his team's run to the 2020 Grand Final.
"We had a couple of tough games in the finals but our squad was pretty fit through the year and we just won games, it just became a habit, routine, just winning.
"We got to the Grand Final and the Storm, as they're so good at, got the jump on us early and we didn't quite handle it to be honest.
"The end of that game was the start of our new season.
"I was very proud of the way the team fought back in that game, but we kind of felt like we missed an opportunity there."
Cleary confirmed fullback Dylan Edwards would take his place in the team despite wearing a moon boot earlier in the week.
"Dylan's fine. He'll be right," he said.
"I'm sure both teams have got players that are carrying injuries. We certainly have."
The coach was however tightlipped on his plans for backrower Villiame Kikau who has started all three finals on the bench after initially being named in the run-on side.
No changes to either 17 are expected, with South Sydney assistant Jason Demetriou revealing halfback Adam Reynolds had trained strongly as he nurses a groin injury.
"Pretty sure he will be [kicking]," Demetriou said.
"Based on today's training he's ready to go."
The Grand Final gets underway from Suncorp Stadium at 7:30pm.
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