Panthers want top-four spot after continuing comeback win trend

Anthony Griffin showed minor concerns for Penrith's second get-out-of-jail victory in as many weeks  after chasing down another 14-point lead against the Raiders on Sunday.

The Panthers backed up last week's miracle effort against the Sea Eagles with four tries in the final 20 to win 40-31 and remain in the hunt for a top-four finish on the Telstra Premiership ladder.

While their attack was patchy and the side leaked 31 points, Griffin preferred to acknowledge the effort of the Raiders and declared they should not be where they are on the competition table.

"They're a good side, they were playing for their lives," Griffin said of the Raiders.

"They're a top-eight side on paper. The game goes for 80 minutes so we'd prefer to get it done a little bit better at the moment but we're getting it done.

"If we're getting behind and rolling over with ugly losses there would be a lot more things to worry about.

"We know we've got to improve but did a good job to get that done tonight. It was a weird old game, every time we put a kick in or threw a pass there was an intercept."

Panthers skipper James Maloney said the side played into Canberra's hands before reverting to their own style of play.

"It's stop-start footy which is what Canberra love," Maloney said.

"They've got a big pack and don't want to go end-to-end footy. As soon as it was starting getting into back-to-back footy we found plenty of space and opened them up.

"We knew that's what we had to do, it was just a matter of doing it. We were loose defensively but just needed to turn that around."

Maloney delivered the final pass to Josh Mansour and scored a late try of his own to rubberstamp his impact on the result.

He admitted it was a clash he rediscovered his motivation to play after a gruelling Holden State of Origin series.

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The premiership-winning playmaker has been plagued by thumb and neck injuries in recent weeks but was confident his woes were behind him.

"I woke up and the body didn't hurt as much this week, I said to the missus I'm excited to play," Maloney said.

"That's a good sign, hopefully a few niggles that have been bugging me are behind us. We've got Reg [Reagan Campbell-Gillard] back, he'll be better for the run. Hopefully we can start building as a team."

Griffin indicated Panthers winger Josh Mansour was cleared of any structural damage after a facial cut late in the side's win, while James Tamou will have scans on his ankle on Monday.