I agree with the game against the Cowboys. I thought they were favourites because of where the game was played, but we matched up reasonably well with them and may have been favourites in Sydney.
As for the GF, we didn't play well because Penrith didn't allow us to play well. Theire defensive line was incredibly fast and was up in our faces all game (some might say they were offside for quite a lot of it, but who really knows).
We were a good team, but there's no way we were even the second-best team that year. Did well to get to the GF, but like the Cowboys in 2017, we were just outclassed by an infinitely superior team.