Last year, due to various circumstances (mainly players carrying injuries), the Panthers coach decided that his best chance was to follow a defensive trench warfare strategy, straight out of the Warren Ryan playbook. You can tell when this was first tried, it was when Momirovski was brought back into the side and Crichton moved to wing. It took a few games to really gel, but by week 2 of the finals they were next to impenetrable.
Things are a bit different this year. You can't give away 6 agains in the opposition 40 anymore, which the Panthers did exploit better than anyone else, and also the side is fit and healthy. Conceding legup penalties out of their own end is the last thing this side wants, and they've given away lots of them this year. If the Eels can get legups out of their territory, get their offloads and second phase going and secure well over 50% of possession (they seem to need 55% against a strong defence- that is what they had in round 9 when it was 3 tries all) the Premiers will be in a world of trouble.