Has the NRL found the chink in Penrith's armour?

For most of the season, the Penrith Panthers have been the runaway favourites to win this year’s premiership, having only lost one match throughout the first 15 rounds of the season.

But having lost three of their last five matches and losing grip of the first spot on the ladder, there are now doubts about their premiership credentials, with former Penrith assistant coach Ben Gardiner believing teams have found the chink in their armour.

Despite having the competition’s best defence, the Samoa coach noted the increased pressure on the left side of the field during their 12-6 loss to the Roosters, which featured less experienced players such as Izack Tago and Jack Cogger.

With the increased focus on the left side of the defence with more tackles, it has seen plenty of fatigue resulting in more try-scoring opportunities for the opposition, with Gardiner believing sides are making this a focus in their preparations.

“There's been a clear plan for teams that are beating the Panthers, and it's to attack the Panthers' left edge,” Gardiner explained on SEN’s Front Office with Vossy.

“On the weekend that was (Isaiah) Papali’i, (Jack) Cogger and (Izack) Tago was there as well.

“It's about making those guys tackle, particularly throughout the midfield and yardage, to then open up the attack to come back at those guys in the attacking end.

“If you look at the stats, the left edge for the Panthers made 126 tackles on the weekend; the right edge only made 86 in total.

“So, what it looks like is Daly Cherry-Evans scores two tries on the right-hand side, his right-hand side, the Panthers' left-hand side.

“So, what they did is they fatigued those players.

“They put pressure on Papali’i, Cogger, and Tago so that DCE (and) the outside backs on that side could get the best opportunity to attack the weakness there, which a number of teams have seen.”

The Panthers will look to keep the pressure on the ladder-leading Roosters when they take on the Storm at AAMI Park.

That clash takes place on Thursday with SEN League having live coverage of the match from 6pm AEST across our radio network and on the SEN app.