Penrith have set their sights on the NRL’s top four as they aim to complete the biggest march up the ladder in the competition’s 109-year history.

Never in the league’s history has a team come back from a 2-7 record to reach the all-important top four.

Yet leading into this Sunday’s crunch clash with Canberra, the Panthers find themselves just one win outside the top quarter of the ladder with three weeks to play.

It’s a position the pre-season favourites admit they could hardly have conceived before the come-from-behind win over the Warriors in round 10, which kick-started the magical run.

“You’re always dreaming of finals,” winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak said on Tuesday.

“We didn’t have the best start to the year but we’re coming good towards the end of the year and that’s when it counts.

“Having another life in finals is something you want, because you never know what is going to happen in a game.”

Penrith’s run is even more incredible when you consider the odds that were stacked against them heading into the Warriors’ clash.

Since the introduction of the mandatory grand final in 1954, only three teams have fought back from a 2-7 start to even make the playoffs.

Two of those – Canberra in 2002 and Parramatta in 2006 – were also beneficiaries of rival teams being docked points for salary cap breaches to finish eighth.

Players credit the 42-14 flogging from South Sydney in round 17 as the biggest turning point, given they have won six straight since that point.

But Sunday’s clash with the rampant Raiders could be just as vital.

For the first time in a month Penrith face a team equally as desperate as them on the ladder.

A win in the nation’s capital though could also kill off the hopes of one of the fellow form teams of the competition, and would be sweet revenge after Canberra knocked Penrith out of last year’s finals.

“They’ve always been dangerous,” Watene-Zelezniak said.

“They’ve been good all year … They’ve lost a lot of of games in the last few minutes of matches. They’re a class team.”