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Cameron Murray struggles to put into words what a NRL premiership with South Sydney would mean to him after two straight preliminary finals losses.

Cameron Murray is heading into his third preliminary final in as many seasons and struggles to put into words what a NRL premiership would mean to him.

The 22-year-old grew up in the area in a South Sydney-mad family, tying his identity to the club before he ever wore the red and green as a NRL player.

But after losing the past two grand final qualifiers he knows how precious the opportunity he has on Saturday night really is.

A win against Penrith would give him the chance to fulfil his lifelong dream.

"It would be pretty special. It's probably hard to put into words," the representative forward said on Tuesday.

"It's something I've been working towards my whole life but also the reality has kind of exposed itself in the last couple of years.

"We've been just shy of getting there in the last couple of years so I guess it serves as a bit of motivation for us.

"We know how much it hurts not to get there. Hopefully third time around we're more lucky."

Last year it was a nailbiting 16-10 defeat to the Raiders in Canberra.

The year before it was 12-4 loss to arch rivals Sydney Roosters at Allianz Stadium.

Each as painful as the other.

"It's not a nice feeling getting knocked out before the grand final so we've got a lot of boys, including myself, using it as motivation to turn up with the right attitude and do everything we can to get to the grand final," he said.

"We've got a really special bunch of boys here and we're all looking forward to the weekend."

The Panthers are coming into the preliminary final fresh from a weekend off and cruising on a 15-game winning streak.

And rather than mull over what could have been in previous seasons, Murray is firmly focused on what he can do against the red-hot Panthers side on Saturday.

"I don't really want to overcomplicate it," he said.

"The best way to approach it for me is to simplify everything, just stick to my normal routine and do what I know needs to be done and execute my role as well as I can.

"I'm not going back into the memories to figure out what I did do right and what I didn't do right, I don't think I'm the type of person.

"I just need to focus on what I'm doing well this year in terms of preparation and turning up."