The Cowboys were beaten convincingly 33-14 by Penrith at home, with James Maloney leading the way for the Panthers.

After a round one win over Cronulla, North Queensland have gone down to Brisbane, Melbourne and now Penrith.

Green believed the display against the Panthers was much better than the performance they dished up against the Storm.

"I wasn't happy with it, but I saw a definite improvement in the areas I asked, you know it was four tries to three, two tries off kicks," he said.

"When things aren't going your way it's funny how the bounce of the ball doesn't go your way, but I thought there was an improvement in those effort areas that I asked for tonight. I did see a reaction from our players in the areas that we said we wanted to improve in."

"Early we had some opportunities there where we just got a little bit rattled, they pressured us pretty well and we just lacked a little bit of composure. You start to question [your self-belief], it's important that we don't let that go too far, because we know we've got some good players in our team.

"They don't forget how to play footy, so you've got to trust in that, trust in your game."