As Melbourne prepare to take on Penrith in a highly anticipated preliminary final, Storm legend Cameron Smith has cast doubt on the Panthers ability to replicate their semi-final performance.

Smith, one of the most decorated players to play the game, believes that Penrith are facing an uphill battle to win the premiership, following a late-season dip in form coming off the back of the State of Origin series.

โ€œThe tiredness, we may see an effect of what Origin has taken out of Penrith this year,โ€ Smith said on SEN Radio.

โ€œUnfortunately, Origin is just a result of success and the way Penrith have played over the last couple of years.

โ€œThey had six or seven players involved in the Origin series this year. Itโ€™s the first time theyโ€™ve ever had to deal with that. Thereโ€™s always going to be a roll-on effect at some stage throughout the year.

โ€œLuai and Cleary, they missed a few games after that Origin series with injuries but weโ€™re still seeing the residual effect of having to deal with such a big series, of being up for that, now coming back to clubland and then having to lift again to try and push for a premiership.โ€

Scoring just eight points against the Eels in the semi-finals, Smith believes Penrith are a casualty of star halfback Nathan Cleary's "boring" kicking.

โ€œEarly in the match, there was a few floater bombs or spiral bombs put up to put those back three under pressure because it was quite swirly conditions up there,โ€ Smith said.

โ€œBut Nathan just looked like he just wanted to be very deliberate and boring with his kicking.

โ€œAnd to some extent it worked, he was quite accurate with his kicking and pinned Parra down on the line.โ€

Former Newcastle great Matty Johns agreed with Smith, speculating that the Panthers are tired and as a result, lacking the fire that saw them win the first 12 games of the season.

โ€œThe other night I thought that Nathan Cleary kicked really conservatively,โ€ Johns said.

โ€œThere were none of those big towering bombs, so itโ€™s a concern for Penrith.โ€

โ€œWith Penrith, there was talk after their semi-final loss to Souths that they looked tired,โ€ he said.

โ€œI rejected that a little bit. I thought they were down on emotion and werenโ€™t up like they should have been. They thought theyโ€™d just go out there and roll over Souths. But Saturday night, I saw a tired football side.

โ€œIn football, when you start to play tired the thing that suffers is your creativity and Penrith are really struggling creatively at the moment.

โ€œTheyโ€™re a long way from the side that was blowing sides off the park early and mid-season.

Penrith will take on Storm, the minor premiers, on Saturday afternoon. The two clubs have met twice already this season, with Penrith claiming an early season win before Melbourne notched up a 27-point win in Round 20.