Panthers coach Ivan Clearly described the team's dressing room as a "war-zone" after three key players were felled by serious injuries during a 30-12 thumping by the Canberra Raiders in Wagga Wagga.
Isaah Yeo (shoulder), Viliame Kikau (leg) and Malakai Watene-Zelezniak (ribs) all failed to finish the game and are in serious doubt for the trip to Brisbane for their clash with Wests Tigers next weekend.
The injuries forced major reshuffles in the Penrith side as they failed to capitalise on a Canberra sin-binning to fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad plus Raiders injuries of their own to Joey Leilua (neck) and John Bateman (eye socket).
"They're not looking all that great, I can't elaborate all that much," Cleary said.
"Vili is in a moonboot on crutches, Isaah feels like he dislocated his shoulder and Mal, you saw him out there, he's in a fair bit of discomfort.
"So, it's a bit of a war zone in there right now with battered bodies and disappointed boys."
Match Highlights: Raiders v Panthers
The Panthers will also be sweating on the match review committee's analysis of a lifting tackle involving James Maloney and Liam Martin, which saw Canberra hooker Josh Hodgson land in a potentially dangerous position.
"I didn't really see it closely, it was one of those ones where he was getting driven sideways with a few guys and he ended up in an awkward positon," Cleary said.
"Sometimes it can happen like that, certainly wasn't a pick up, I didn't think."
Aided by a strong breeze at their backs, Penrith camped inside Canberra's half for much of the first 40 minutes.
They were further aided by the sin-binning in the 18th minute, but not only were the Panthers unable to make the most the one-man advantage, the Raiders not defence soaked up the pressure but returned it in kind to lead 14-0 at the break.
"Mentally when somebody's in the bin it's a good opportunity (to score)," Cleary said.
"We had a couple of penalties and a late one in the tackle that was contentious and then they score.
"So that hurts at the best of times but it's where we're at."
Despite having 55 per cent of possession, the Panthers were only able to finish 66 per cent of their sets, pointing further to Cleary's assessment his side is not clicking in attack.
Panthers suffer three key injuries against Raiders
"Clearly, we're not at that point right now and everything lined up in that sense, but we're in this position and at the end of the day it's going to make us stronger," he said.
"We've only finished disappointingly and that was against the Storm, most of the other games have been close and we've had a chance.
"Today I thought it looked promising when we scored first in the second half and then we drop the ball and then the injuries started."
With the Panthers sitting just off the bottom of the ladder combined with the slew of injuries, Cleary tried to remain grounded about the job at hand next week.
"We'll have 17 guys and we'll get back on the horse, injuries come and go and it's going to give somebody else an opportunity, and we're being really tested right now so we'll see what we're made of," he said.
