Jamie Soward says Penrith have been guilty of turning their minds to the NRL finals two months too early.
The Panthers' top-four hopes took another blow on Saturday when they were defeated 18-16 by last-placed Cronulla at Bathurst in central western NSW.
While the Ivan Cleary-coached side have been the surprise packets of the season, it was their second successive loss and put them on shaky ground seven weeks out from the finals.
Playmaker Soward said they had enjoyed raising eyebrows by sitting second at this stage of the season but questioned whether they had prematurely let their focus wander to the post-season.
"We prepare every week to go out there and win," he said.
"Maybe we're looking at the ladder and waiting for finals to come around.
"In saying that we shouldn't because we're not assured of a spot.
"It's just going to be a matter of really preparing well again this week and make sure we're prepared come Friday night."
Penrith and Canterbury go into their clash at ANZ Stadium on Friday in near-identical positions.
Both teams have spent most of the year inside the top four but have slumped to two straight losses.
Soward said over the past two weeks, his side had been guilty of letting in soft tries and not applying pressure to their opposition.
"I think we had some really good patches out there. You just can't do it for only 70 minutes," he said.
"You've got to make sure you're on for 80 minutes and, to (the Sharks') credit, they were probably the better side on the day and got the result.
"We've got to make sure we're ready on Friday night against the Bulldogs - it doesn't get any bigger than that."
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