HOW embarrassing.
No Nathan Cleary. No Jarome Luai. No Isaah Yeo. No Stephen Crichton. No Brian To'o. No Liam Martin.
And yet still the Panthers were way too good for the Newcastle Knights at Penrith Stadium on Saturday night, winning 20-12 with a squad featuring six players who in all likelihood will be heading back to reserve grade once their State of Origin stars are fit and available.
It was a result that didn't just leave long-suffering Newcastle fans shaking their heads in disbelief.
Before Melbourne's post-match press conference after their win against Manly, Storm skipper Christian Welch turned to coach Craig Bellamy and asked: "How did the Knights lose?"
It's a valid question.
The Knights arrived at the foot of the Blue Mountains with a squad missing only two players, Jayden Brailey and Lachlan Fitzgibbon, and everything to play for.
A win against the two-time premiers - depleted as they were - may well have been the catalyst for a late-season charge towards the top eight, especially as Newcastle's next two games are against fellow strugglers Canterbury (away) and Wests Tigers (home).
Instead the visitors were simply no match for a well-drilled, committed Penrith outfit who Knights skipper Kalyn Ponga described afterwards as "relentless".
It was a brutal reality check, and a reminder of the vast gulf between Newcastle and the teams who feature at the pointy end of the ladder.
Inevitably, the pressure on Knights coach Adam O'Brien will escalate after such an underwhelming performance.
Already speculation has surfaced that ex-Dragons coach Paul McGregor could be a possible replacement.
O'Brien is contracted until the end of next season. But so was Justin Holbrook at the Gold Coast Titans, and look how that turned out.
The numbers certainly aren't doing O'Brien any favours.
After steering Newcastle into the play-offs in his first two campaigns, the Knights have won 11 of their past 39 games since the start of last season.
His career record - 34 wins from 85 games - gives him a winning strike rate of 40.0 per cent. The only coach in Newcastle's history with a lower ratio was his predecessor, Nathan Brown (25.5 per cent).
Admittedly, the Knights (five wins, one draw, nine losses) are still a mathematical chance of making this year's finals. But to do so, they will probably need to win seven of their remaining nine games.
They haven't won back-to-back fixtures since the first two rounds of last season, and their remaining opponents include the likes of Melbourne (home), Canberra (away), Souths (home) and Cronulla (home).
In a ruthless, results-driven industry, O'Brien is entitled to be nervous.
But there would appear to be one factor in his favour.
Knights/Wests Group CEO Philip Gardner, the man chiefly responsible for hiring O'Brien, is in Europe on holiday.
It is hard to imagine Gardner wielding the axe from the other side of the planet.
O'Brien can only hope his team's win-loss statistics have improved by the time Gardner returns.
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