Penrith Panthers bow out of NRL finals contention but show solid improvement in 2013

PENRITH have officially bowed out of the finals race but the Panthers deserve plaudits for the club's bigger-picture performance this season.

PENRITH might have officially bowed out of the finals race on Saturday night but the Panthers deserve huge plaudits for the club's bigger-picture performance this season.

Rated wooden spoon contenders at the beginning of the year, for Penrith to go down guns blazing and threatening to upset the Bulldogs in round 25 is a major achievement and deserves recognition.

Cast an eye over the Panthers NRL line-up on Saturday night and there are a host of feel-good stories attached to the unsung outfit from western Sydney.

They might have fallen just shy of a breakthrough finals appearance this season but with a cast of new recruits including Peter Wallace, Brent Kite, Elijah Taylor and Jamie Soward arriving next season, there is reason for Penrith supporters to believe better days will come.

No question, the combination and influence of coach Ivan Cleary and general manager of rugby league Phil Gould have the Panthers in safe hands.

"It's been an improvement and we're improving as a club. In that sense, I don't know if I'd say successful but it's been pretty close to the mark," Cleary said.

"I think we exceeded a lot of people expectations, a lot of players have played well and as a club we're getting better.

"We just couldn't build enough pressure tonight. We had some good periods in the game.

"We started well and pretty much throughout the game it felt like we had the opportunity to create some chances but probably that try on halftime was significant.

"Then they just went on with it in the second half and they were too good."

Panthers captain Kevin Kingston lamented a missed opportunity for the club to keep their season alive.

"We've got a shed full of pretty disappointed blokes and we've probably got every right to be," Kingston said.

"I thought we had our chances, especially in the first half, we should have probably gone in a bit more ahead.

"We probably just let ourselves down. We didn't play very well. Our attack wasn't as poised as usual and our defence was erratic."

The Panthers have overcome a mountain of injury issues to key players at various stages of the season and should be satisfied with what they produced over the course of the year.

Prop Mose Masoe's hit on Bulldog Martin Tapau when the game was well and truly gone summed up the effort at Penrith over the course of the year.