Heading into their qualifying final on Friday evening, there were some questions surrounding the Panthers.
Would Nathan Cleary play well after another injury? Would they be hurt by a late-season dip in form? Would they run out of steam after three consecutive premierships?
All those questions, and more, were answered in the opening 40 minutes, with Penrith blitzing the Roosters in an utterly dominant first half.
Cleary was at his influential best, and the team looked more than ready for another deep finals run.
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The home side's opening attacking and defensive sets were almost faultless, and they were rewarded with a Brian To'o try in the 5th minute.
Izack Tago crossed not long after before Jarome Luai and Luke Garner added to the Tricolours' misery.
The Panthers were in touch with the match clock at one point, having scored 22 points in as many minutes.
While the momentum shifted in the Roosters' favour with two quickfire tries early in the second half, Penrith were able to defend their lead.
Garner then completed an unlikely double in the 70th minute to put the result beyond doubt, with the Panthers winning 30-10.
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The result sends them straight through to a preliminary final and also affords them a full week of rest.
Coach Ivan Cleary was particularly pleased with his team's first-half effort, but also saw the benefit of having to fight hard in the second stanza.
"Very happy, obviously, to get through to a prelim," he said post-match.
"In any season, it's a great achievement. Nice to get the week off as well.
I thought [the first half] was probably our best half of footy, maybe [of] the whole year.
"I guess experience gives you something and an understanding of how to play finals and everything. Our style was suited to it.
"The second half wasn't at all what we planned, but that was probably not a bad thing either. We had to work hard and fight off a Roosters resurgence.
"But all in all, I’m stoked with that."
