The critics have it wrong according to Penrith coach Matt Elliott despite the Panthers' failure to silence them with a badly needed upset against Brisbane on Friday.

Elliott, whose tenure at the Panthers is under the spotlight, obviously wanted to clear up claims he was coaching a bunch of "numpties" after they were flogged by Cronulla a week earlier.

"We're not a bunch of numpties, even though it's been written widely that we are.

"You guys don't know. We do. We're not numpties," launched Elliott after the 18-10 loss which keeps him under pressure.

"We can't do anything about last week.

"And officially we can't do anything about today.

"We're better than we showed tonight. I'm not pleased about losing.

"We were capable of winning but we denied ourselves the opportunity."

Penrith played with a lot more resolve and commitment than they showed in their surrender to Cronulla.

They didn't have a specialist No.7 at halfback and a number of players are still underdone having not had the benefit of a full pre-season.

But the reality is after 80 minutes of the grind, Elliott didn't get the precious two premiership points on offer and Penrith -- who finished second in 2010 -- were anchored near the bottom of the ladder on 1-3.

Things unfortunately don't get any easier for him or skipper Petero Civoniceva next weekend when they host Canberra knowing another loss will bring out the knives for Elliott, already in the firing line.

"We'll get there, we'll be fine," said a less than convincing Elliott.

Civoniceva, who has celebrated many great wins playing for Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium, cut the figure of a captain with the weight of the world on his big Fijian shoulders.

"It's always tough on players when you're not getting the right results," said the big prop.

"We're going through a tough period right now and as a group we've got to be able to handle it."

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