The Panthers were preparing to play finals football this time last year.

Eventually making it to the second round, a Chad Townsend field goal is all that stopped the Panthers from playing in the Grand Final qualifier.

Seeing the team go so close in 2018, Ivan Cleary used top four and premierships in the same sentence before the 2019 season kicked off:

"We've got to be a top-four team and once we are, we can start talking about premierships."

Cleary's return to the club was hailed as the missing piece to premiership success with 2019 slated as the year the Panthers announce themselves as long-term contenders.

The reality has been so much different.

A seven-game winning streak full of holes papered over the cracks for a moment. Keeping within touching distance of the Top 8 through to Round 24 and kept their hopes of a return to the finals alive.

But ultimately, the Panthers have fallen worryingly short of expectations to sit 11th on the ladder and no chance of making the Top 8 going into Round 25.

So, what has gone wrong?

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2019 Attack

The Panthers attack ranked 7th in the competition scoring 20.9 points per game last season. While they weren't towards the top of the list overall, Penrith's ceiling in attack was as high as any of the elite attacking teams in the competition. When the Panthers were on - usually chasing a deficit - nobody could stop them.

Inconsistency in attack was Penrith's undoing in 2018.

It's their consistency that has seen the Panthers fall short of expectations in 2019.

They've been consistently terrible with the ball in their hands.

Scoring just 15.6 points per game, the Panthers rank 14th in attack in 2019. Unlike last year during the periods they couldn't find the line, the potential for them to pile on the points was always there.

That hasn't been the case in 2019.

The Panthers have failed to adapt to much beyond giving the ball to Viliame Kikau and watching him go. Admittedly, he's one of the most destructive players in the competition. He's near impossible to stop one on one. The big Fijian is a lot easier to stop when you know the ball is going to him, though.

When the defence can safely assume the ball will end up in Kikau's hands when the ball shifts to the left, they can get two or three in the tackle. At the very least, the backrower can pay special attention to his half and help when required.

Again, Kikau is destructive. He's broken 59 tackles this season which ranks 3rd among all starting backrowers. He doesn't have a lot beyond that, though. Kikau hasn't registered a try assist in 2019 and has just two across his 51-game career.

If you can stop Kikau, you go a long way to stopping the Panthers attack.

Beyond giving it to Kikau, the Panthers haven't offered a lot with the ball in hand. Nathan Cleary hasn't been able to command the right side. Although, he's been forced to play with a different backrower and centre almost every week.

On the left, age has begun to catch up to James Maloney. The 33-year-old has still managed 16 try assists this season - most since 2015. They've not come consistently, though. He picked up 11 in five games during Penrith's winning streak.

It's been a horror year for the Panthers attack. Injuries - of which they have had plenty - don't come close to excusing how poor it has been. The attack has been uninspired, and history suggests Cleary's men will struggle again next season too.

2019 Defence

While the Panthers defence will finish the season in the bottom half of the NRL conceding 20.1 points per game, it's been the most encouraging part of their season.

The Panthers have won seven games scoring fewer than 20 points including five straight throughout the seven-game winning streak. When the attack isn't singing - which it often wasn't - the Penrith defence kept them in it.

Unlike most teams in the competition that carry a glaring hole somewhere in the defensive line, Penrith conceded their tries fairly evenly across the field. They conceded 35% of their tries on both their left and right edges while 30% came through the middle.

RELATED: Left, Right or Centre: Where each NRL club is conceding tries

The worry is the 24 tries that came in the middle of the field. Only the Warriors (27) and Dragons (28) allowed more total tries in that area.

In a season with little to write home about, there is at least some hope for the Panthers on the defensive end. So much of being a good defensive team is effort and a hunger to defend. The Panthers have displayed those attributes at times and won games on the back of them.

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Outlook for 2020

While Nathan Cleary should improve, Jarome Luai can add another element to the attack, and Api Koroisau is an exciting signing out of dummy half, the Panthers shouldn't be expected to become an attacking force in one summer.

History is not on their side.

Cleary hasn't coached a strong attacking team since 2011 when the Warriors finished the season 6th in points per game.

2019 - 14th
2018 - 15th
2017 - 15th
2015 - 16th
2014 - 8th
2013 - 10th
2012 - 15th

While Cleary hasn't always had the best tools in his shed, the collective results really do paint a bleak picture. Dodgy tools or not, five finishes in the bottom three in attack across the last seven seasons can't fill those at the foot of the mountains with a lot of confidence.

You'd usually assume improvement is on the horizon when fielding such a young team. But we've been here and done this all before with the Panthers.

Players come and go all too regularly. The next up and coming youngster is signed long-term, pushing an established player out and lowering the ceiling for the squad in that particular season.

Dallin Watene-Zelzniak has thrived since the Panthers let him go earlier in the year. Waqa Blake has already been sent packing without even making it to the first year of a recently signed contract extension. Reagan Campbell-Gillard is set to do the same while Wayde Egan has also been told he's free to look elsewhere.

The revolving door at Panthers HQ needs a lock put on it.

Regular readers know what Penrith needs to generate: Cohesion.

They won't do that by continually promoting juniors, giving them contracts, and moving others along.

The Panthers have used 33 players this season - the most in the NRL. There have been 11 teams to use 33 players or more in a season over the last decade. Just one of those teams made the Top 8 the following year.

Cohesion matters, and it's not something the Panthers have come close to producing in 2019.

They need a full season with a core group along with some luck in the injury department. Give the list time to develop combinations in attack and defence. Only then can we start talking about the Panthers as long-term premiership contenders.

At this stage, that should be the goal for 2020. Making the Top 8 would be nice, but there's going to be a rebuilding feel to the Panthers next year despite a lack of new faces.

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