It was supposed to be the player drain that finally halted Penrith's dynasty.
But if the Panthers' 46-26 semi-final shellacking of Canterbury proved anything, it was that re-invention may actually be helping, not hindering, their NRL dominance.
Penrith's season began with serious doubts the four-time reigning premiers could maintain the rage after losing James Fisher-Harris, Jarome Luai and Sunia Turuva.
When the Panthers slumped to last on the ladder after round 12, those fears appeared well-founded.
But if their dynasty is to yield a staggering fifth consecutive title, Penrith will be able to thank the men that have stepped into the vacancies, and stepped up at the right time of year.
All three of Isaiah Papali'i, Blaize Talagi and Paul Alamoti had modest starts to Penrith's fourth-consecutive premiership defence.
Papali'i and Talagi took time to acclimatise to the Panthers' system on arrival, while Alamoti found himself in and out of the team after round 12.
But all three were vital in establishing the 36-8 half-time lead that booked the Panthers their preliminary final meeting with Brisbane.
Turuva's replacement on the wing Alamoti, controversially replacing Tom Jenkins for finals, had a hand in all of the Panthers' first three tries against his old firm.
He tore down the right edge to put Penrith in position for Brian To'o's opener, ran 20 metres in space on the right for their second then found Nathan Cleary on the inside following two offloads.
Alamoti completed his tryscoring double following a To'o break in the second half and then nabbed a third four-pointer as the final 10 minutes approached.
Penrith's Luai replacement Talagi, one of the smallest men on either side, clearly had a mission to target the big guns on the Bulldogs' right edge.
The five-eighth crunched his opposite man Lachlan Galvin in a tackle that left the Bulldog to turn the ball over and put Penrith in position for their second try.
A similarly bruising tackle from Talagi yielded a Matt Burton knock-on and stifled the Bulldogs as they sought what would've been their best field position of the first half.
New middle forward Papali'i threw the offload that led to Cleary's first-half try with the kind of dexterity that would've impressed Fisher-Harris.
He chased a To'o kick to score the try that put the Panthers up by 28 points at the break and now appears in his best form since a breakout 2022 season at Parramatta.
There are now only three remaining teams left to consider what it will take to stop the Panthers in 2025.
But the real question might be what it will take to ever stop the Panthers, if not the loss of three of their best players ahead of this season.
