EXCLUSIVE: Absence of 'influential' hooker as Andrew Johns on upset alert as Panthers come back to the pack

Andrew Johns believes a shock upset could be on the cards for the Penrith Panthers as they prepare to start their finals campaign without one of their "most influential players," Mitch Kenny.

Penrith will enter a do-or-die battle against the Warriors on Saturday without their gun hooker, who was left out of the squad due to a hamstring injury.

Coach Ivan Cleary admitted the three-time premiership winner's injury is "a little bit worse than what we initially thought," but confirmed it is still only considered to be a minor strain.

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The Panthers are hopeful that Kenny will be able to return for week two of the finals if they qualify, meaning he could return to face either the Bulldogs or the Storm.

While Penrith are still the favourites to win as per Sportbet's odds at the time of publication, Johns is concerned by the absence of one of the competition's busiest players.

"This is one game where an upset wouldn't surprise (me) because of Mitch Kenny," Johns said on Nine's Freddy and the Eighth.

"Mitch Kenny does so much work for them. If you look at their team, Nathan is (their best player) and just behind him is Isaah Yeo. I reckon Mitch Kenny is the next most influential player.

"He does all the tough work, gets the speed of the defensive line, gets up in all the effort areas and cleans up the mess.

"I think this game is going to be a lot closer than what people think."

Johns confirmed that while Kenny is a big loss, he is still backing Penrith to win.

"I am thinking Penrith (win) but an upset would not surprise me," he said.

Kenny has been a pivotal player in Penrith's premiership success in recent years and has featured in 20 games this season for the club.

However, in his last appearance before the finals he was limited to just 40 minutes of game time.

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Cleary insisted post-match Kenny's early departure from the field against the Dragons was just precautionary, but Phil Gould was alarmed by his exit.

"That's not a good sign. Hamstrings can be very delicate, it just depends on the game," he said on Wide World of Sports' Six Tackles with Gus.

"It is a long season and you gotta have luck along the way. Bad luck can come at you at anytime - thunderbolts we call them, absolute thunderbolts.

"They rested their players two weeks ago to get them ready for the finals and then all of a sudden the thunderbolt (strikes) and Mitch Kenny is unavailable.

"The key for Penrith will obviously be Nathan Cleary and Dylan Edwards at the back and then their hard-working forward pack, also their finals experience is incredibly important.

"The Warriors have had a good season, it has been up and down in the second half. I think at home, as you say it is sudden death and in these games they are absolutely emptying out what they've got left.

"Every game is your last (from now) and if you get it wrong there is no chance to go away on Monday and review it to get it right."