Penrith Panthers look for positives after 30-0 loss to North Queensland Cowboys

PENRITH Panthers head coach Ivan Cleary admits his team need to find their confidence again after a 30-0 hammering by the North Queensland Cowboys.

Cowboys-Panthers

PENRITH Panthers head coach Ivan Cleary admits his team need to find their confidence again after a 30-0 hammering at the hands of the North Queensland Cowboys on Saturday.

The Panthers were behind the eight ball from the onset after a splendid start by the Cowboys saw them lead 22-0 by the 17th minute.

Dean Whare had a poor game at the back for Penrith, failing to defuse two bombs leading to tries.

Cleary said his team's poor start cost them.

"We were always going to have to start well and try and build a bit of confidence and it was the opposite way around and we just got worse from there," Cleary said.

"Certainly a positive was we didn't give up and there was a lot of guys trying their hardest out there.

"But the fact of the matter is we played terribly.

"We've got a few guys down on a bit of confidence and we were just bad."

A positive second half defensive display will increase Penrith's hopes of snapping their four-game losing streak when they face the Newcastle Knights at Hunter Stadium this Saturday.

"There was plenty of times (the Cowboys) had the ball on our goal line in the second half looking very dangerous but we managed to keep them out," Cleary said.

"Whilst it didn't change the result of the game it's important we still hung in there and worked as hard as we could for 80 minutes."