Travis Burns knocked over 50 kicks at goal from the same spot during training this week, but when it mattered most on Sunday the Penrith five-eighth produced an absolute shocker to put a dent in the Panthers' NRL finals hopes with a 12-8 loss to Manly.

With his side having clawed back a try to close within two points of the high-flying Sea Eagles early in the second half at Centrebet Stadium, Burns missed what he would normally make in his sleep to leave the hosts trailing 6-4.

Now Burns isn't the Panthers' first choice kicker, but with sharpshooter Michael Gordon out for the season, he has done a brilliant job filling in - having nailed 24 of 25 attempts before he lined up for Sunday's shot adjacent to the posts.

The kick went wide and low, like a missile into the shocked crowd sitting on the hill.

"I just shanked one, I half slipped with my left foot and I just shanked it," said Burns, who could be in for more bad news when he has scans on a suspected broken hand and torn bicep.

While the Sea Eagles eventually prevailed 12-8, the missed conversion was pivotal.

The Panthers had battled so long just to get on the board, and knowing they had to score again just to get on level terms seemed beyond them.

The Sea Eagles scored another try 15 minutes from time to go out by eight points, but had Burns made the kick, the home side could have been pushing for a leveller late in the contest instead of a miracle, with David Simmons' last minute try too late as the Panthers slipped out of the top eight.

"I work with Daryl (kicking coach Daryl Halligan) a lot, I knocked about 50 over from that same spot during the week," Burns said.

"In a game you can sometimes shank them and it was a costly shank."

But as Burns noted, he wasn't the only one to blame for the loss with Penrith having had enough ball and enough field position to win the game.

"We had chances to win the game apart from that, it was two points," Burns said.

"We had plenty of chances to square it up. A few silly errors at crucial times cost us."

Despite the close proximity of the scoreboard, Manly never really seemed troubled as they racked up their third straight win.

Manly skipper Jamie Lyon beat four players and made the most of Lachlan Coote's inability to finish off a tackle as he scored an opportunist try after 25 minutes, and they were over again two minutes later only for Daly Cherry-Evans to be denied due to a knock-on in Kieran Foran's strip of David Simmons.

The Panthers hit back when a good Matthew Bell offload put Coote over, but they were out by more than a converted try when Foran and Brett Stewart combined to send the former over for a long-range effort in the 65th minute, before Manly again put on the defensive squeeze.

"We didn't get much ball but the boys really dug in and kept defending," Manly skipper Jason King said.

"We were pretty courageous to do that much defending in one game."

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