What a night of rugby league with two former premiership contenders, Brisbane and Cronulla losing yet again.

The NRL ladder is still a mess and will remain so after this weekend's games, but that means every point is extra pivotal and makes the regular season so much more intriguing.

We'll be back tomorrow for more action as the Bulldogs host the Warriors, Melbourne travels to Leichhardt to take on the Tigers and he Cowboys take on the Sea Eagles in Townsville.

Until then, keep an eye on ABC Sport for all the latest.

See you later!

Penrith coach Ivan Cleary sounds like he's really looking forward to the State of Origin period being over.

The Panthers have the bye next week and then the Dolphins the Sunday after Origin III, so who knows how many of Brian To'o, Isaah Yeo, Jarome Luai, Dylan Edwards and Liam Martin will play that game?

Then hopefully they can get the squad back together, along with injured halfback Nathan Cleary, to finish the season strong.

So, even if tonight's performance wasn't the most polished, the coach is happy with how resolute the team was.

"It was definitely a quality performance in attitude and resilience. That gives us a lot of heart for the future."

And captain Isaah Yeo is enjoying the rivalry with the Broncos, which is hardly surprising considering Penrith's dominance in it — winning the last four games.

"Feels like we've had some great games against each other. It wasn't perfect by any means."

Broncos coach Kevin Walters says Jock Madden looks like he will be out for a month or so with that hamstring injury and Josh Rogers will come back in.

He says the Broncos will likely have to go outside their top 30 to face the Dragons next week as the injuries tell and State of Origin takes Reece Walsh, Selwyn Cobbo, Payne Haas and Pat Carrigan.

"Once we get the crew back together we'll set sail for the finish."

Walters was impressed by Reece Walsh in his first Broncos game since round 12, but says he needs to see improvement across the field.

"He was good, but we've just got to be a bit better across the board."

Captain Pat Carrigan and Walters both say there are no worrying signs at training, but the results just aren't coming.

"It's all part and parcel," Carrigan says.

"We're not here to feel sorry for ourselves. I'm a big believer in the harder you work the luckier you get and eventually it's gonna turn for us.

"We'll band together and get the job done."

Brisbane hooker Billy Walters tells ABC Sport "we haven't played that well for a very long time", but at the end of the day the Broncos have lost their fifth on the trot.

They're now 10th with a 7-9 win-loss record and facing a less than desirable run home.

It starts OK with the Dragons at home (although they'll be without Origin stars), then Knights away, Bulldogs at home and the Titans away. If they play like they did tonight, particularly in the first half, the Broncos can win those games, but given they haven't done so since round 11 (that's May 17) they can't take anything for granted.

Then they've got a trip to Townsville to face the Cowboys, followed by a home game against the Eels, followed by two Lang Park games against the Dolphins and Storm.

Of benefit to Brisbane is a congested middle of the NRL ladder —just two points separate sixth from 13th currently — but they need to find some way to win at least six of those last eight games to feel safely in the finals, something former Maroons fullback Clinton Schifcofske doubts they can do.

"I thought a few weeks ago they might be in a bit of strife and then they've lost game after game after game," he says on ABC Sport.

"They're in a really sticky place. They could miss the eight. I'm tipping them to miss the eight."

Their chances certainly haven't been helped by losing halfback Jock Madden to what looks like a long-term hamstring injury tonight. Adam Reynolds MIGHT be able to come back at some point, but if they keep losing their finals hopes might be gone by the time he returns.

That was Brisbane's best performance in the better part of two months, but it's all for nought as the 14-6 loss marks the fifth straight defeat for last year's runners-up, who are now in a real battle to even make the finals.

For the Panthers, they had their own point to prove after last week's loss to the Cowboys, and they came out looking a little shaky, but settled into a groove after half-time and just turned the screws like a champion can.

The middle forwards, including bench players Lindsay Smith and Liam Henry, took control and Jarome Luai worked the Broncos over.

Brisbane started just about every set off its own tryline in Jesse Arthars's corner and couldn't get any metres in that second half.

Selwyn Cobbo smashes Paul Alamoti to jolt the ball loose and the Broncos spin it left straight away.

Corey Oates almost goes over on the left but he's ankle-tapped by Liam Martin and shoved into touch by Izack Tago.

The Broncos rush in to back up their mate as four Panthers celebrate on top of him, and there's plenty of push and shove.

Jarome Luai flies through to latch onto a Brad Schneider grubber, but Schneider held the ball a second too long and Luai strayed offside.

The Panthers break down the left on the last but Brad Schneider's last pass to Brian To'o is way out of reach.

But he's hit high after he passes by Jesse Arthars, so the Panthers get another chance.

Corey Oates forces another error from Izack Tago and the Broncos regain the ball. And Paul Alamoti for some reason tries to drag Josiah Karapani 15 metres to the sideline, and he's penalised.

But the Broncos waste their chance as Reece Walsh's early chip is read perfectly by Brian To'o, who beats Deinie Mariner to the ball.

The Broncos fullback tries to launch a spiral bomb through the middle of the field, but it skews off his boot and spins out on the full.

Walsh is filthy with himself.

The Broncos need to work hard to ensure this doesn't get out of hand.

That's really poor defence from the Broncos in the middle.

Xavier Willison bites too hard on Moses Leota's decoy run and that leaves Corey Jensen alone to handle Mitch Kenny. He brings him down with a low tackle, but the momentum and the slick surface helps Kenny slide over.

Dylan Edwards's conversion will make it 14-6 to Penrith.

They field the kick on their tryline again and just go nowhere in the set, kicking on the fourth from inside their own 20m zone. Not a single run with impetus in that set.

Brian To'o marks on halfway and the Broncos are right back under the pump.

The Broncos break down the left thanks to Reece Walsh and Selwyn Cobbo.

Cobbo follows up with a dummy-half scoot, but he's held up by Dylan Edwards. Great ball-and-all tackle.

Jarome Luai brings Jesse Arthars down right under the cross bar as he fields a kick. He slips off the boots and James Fisher-Harris completes the tackle, but he's called for a flop and penalised.

That's a bad call. No-one was touching Arthars.

The Broncos get a relieving penalty and get into Penrith territory for the first time this half, but they can't find a way through when they get there and Selwyn Cobbo dies with the ball in hand on the last.

And the Broncos' kick returners are getting picked up and shoved back by this powerful Penrith defence.

Jarome Luai isn't kicking into aerial contests; he's kicking just to force the Broncos to truck it off their tryline, and the Panthers' defence is backing him up.

And now Xavier Willison has knocked on in the middle just 35 metres out with his first touch after coming back on.

Brisbane tries to go around the Panthers from deep in its own half, but Selwyn Cobbo and Deine Mariner are dumped into touch and the Panthers will attack again from 35 metres out. The pressure is right on the Broncos now.

But they get away with it as Lindsay Smith wrong-foots Kobe Hetherington right on the tryline and tries the offload, but it goes straight to Marty Taupau.

A bunch of Broncos stare at Jarome Luai's spiral bomb that comes down in the middle of the field. But Liam Martin flies through to make a clean catch, offloading to Lindsay Smith, who grubbers perfectly for Brian To'o to cross out on the left.

Phenomenal from the Panthers, but Brisbane needs to be better. I know they didn't want to give away a repeat set, but Tyson Smoothy, Martin Taupau and Brendan Piakura were all there and Martin just snuck through untouched and unchallenged.

The Broncos' attack looks a little out of sorts with Kobe Hetherington sharking a ball from Walters and taking a charge, only to knock-on.

Oh no. It was an electric play from the Broncos with Walsh breaking past the onrushing defence on the last, sending Ezra Mam through and he kicks into the corner for Jock Madden.

It forces the dropout as Brian To'o gets back to clean up, but Brisbane halfback Madden has pulled up holding his right hamstring.

Meanwhile, Reece Walsh forces another dropout with a curling grubber.

Brad Schneider does his second 5-metre dropout in a row.