This season, for the first time in a long time, Penrith experienced an emotion that they have rarely felt across a glory-laden run to four straight premierships - humiliation.
That shame and embarrassment has helped fuel the Panthers' rise out of what coach Ivan Cleary termed a "vortex of self pity" to head into Sunday's semi-final with Canterbury still in the hunt for a fifth title in a row.
Things could have been so different if Penrith had thrown in the towel midway through the season, when the going was tough and they were on track to become the first side since the 1953 Wests Magpies to go from premiership to spoon in the space of 12 months.
Sat stone cold last after 12 rounds with just three wins to their name, a loss to eventual wooden spooners Newcastle in Bathurst in late May was the point of no return for Cleary.
"We were all so embarrassed about ourselves after that game and we took it upon ourselves to make a change," back-up fullback Daine Laurie said of the nadir that preceded a nine-match winning streak.
Cleary gathered his players together at their training ground the following week and told them in no uncertain terms that what they were dishing up wasn't good enough.
"He sat us down and had a good talk with us - that was our line in the sand," said back-rower Isaiah Papali'i.
"As much as it hurt for us to hear it, we knew where he was coming from and we understood where we were at that point.
"We had to go back to training hard, that's what has worked here for so long and we had to have a little reminder of what it took to be successful, to find that hard nose about ourselves."
Penrith were put through a brutal wrestling drill then run ragged on the training field - and proceeded to win 10 of their last 13 games to finish seventh.
But some felt the pain of Cleary's intense sessions more than others.
Paul Alamoti, described by Penrith co-captain Isaah Yeo this week as the club's best player in the run to last year's premiership, was axed for his shocker in the Bathurst loss.
Alamoti won a recall to the wing at the expense of Tom Jenkins for this year's finals series but that humbling defeat to Newcastle lives on in his memory.
"That was a brutal reality check for myself and the boys," Alamoti said.
"Especially for myself, that was a night to forget.
"It was a blessing in disguise because that was our line in the sand, at that point we were sat dead last.
"Now we've managed to get ourselves back to where we are today."
