Penrith prop Matthew Bell says the Panthers' second-half NRL capitulation against Brisbane last Sunday could work as a blessing in disguise.

In a performance coach Matt Elliott labelled as unacceptable, the Panthers were thumped 58-24 at Suncorp Stadium with the Broncos scoring 40 unanswered points after halftime having trailed 24-18 at the interval.

The defeat saw Penrith slip to tenth on the NRL ladder and Bell said the players are under no illusions about what they have to do to improve against South Sydney at CUA Stadium on Saturday.

Souths are still in with a shout of making the finals with just three points separating the fifth-placed Wests Tigers and the Rabbitohs who sit in 12th spot.

Bell says neither side can afford to lose.

"We needed a bit of a wake-up call and we got it against Brisbane," Bell said.

"Our defence has been down over the last couple of weeks and Sunday was a bit of a shake-up for us.

"It showed once again that in the NRL you can get hurt if you allow teams to overrun you if your defence is not up to scratch and that is what hurt us last week.

"Souths are fighting for their season and that makes them a very dangerous side."

Elliott made a point of consigning the Suncorp horror show to the bin instead of making his players sit through it, and Bell said the game had not been discussed since a dressing room post-mortem last Sunday.

"We basically said we have three games left and it us up to us to make the finals," he said.

"The coach can't do it for us when we cross the line and the focus this week in training has been on defence.

"We didn't watch the review of the game. Matt said he wanted us to forget about and look ahead to Saturday and put things right against Souths."

After a five-year absence from the finals, Bell said the prospect of another year outside of the top eight would be a massive disappointment to a side that have made great strides this season.

"We have played some great footy this season and there is a real buzz around the club," he said.

"We know we have the strikepower to score points against any team with Michael Jennings and Wade Graham in our team, but we need to tighten up in defence.

"We have to look at every game as finals game. A defeat can end our season and if you are looking for any positives from the Brisbane game it is that we won't play that bad again this season.

"It is our final home game of the year and we want to make sure we finish in style."

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