St Helens are now the Champions of the World after they became only the second team to win in Australia in the World Club Challenge.
It was an amazing moment for St Helens and British rugby league.
It was also clear on the field too as their star players dropped to the ground and the bench darted onto the field.
But now, on the Bloke in a Bar podcast, hosted by former Brisbane Broncos player Denan Kemp, it has been suggested that the Saints “over celebrated” the win.
“I think that there’s a general consensus that whenever we go over there for the World Club Challenge it’s a sense of ‘the boys are on tour, who cares, that’s why we lost’. It’s not the first time we’ve been beaten by a Super League side but I think what makes this so special is that they were out here and were up against one of the most dominant sides we’ve had in a very long time, and they still got the job done.
“From what I’m told the gap between the top four Super League sides and everyone else is quite substantial.
“I never questioned whether the Super League’s best players were good enough in attack against us, Super League attacking footy is really good to watch and really entertaining from what I have seen.
“I was always of the mind that would the best teams in the Super League handle the defensive gritty nature of teams in the NRL? I will say though they bashed the Panthers in defence.
“It was crazy, they were winning the middle and cut me a slice of humble pie I underappreciated this side massively. You saw the way St Helens celebrated and some people were saying ‘oh it’s just a trial for Penrith’, but this is what this should be.
“This is the two best clubs in the world. I’ve always thought that this trophy should be worth more than it is, and this can be a turning point.
“People saying that they celebrated too much, that’s easy for you to say. We’re in the NRL, we are the pinnacle of rugby league. We sit on our high horse but you do realise that their salary cap is £2.1 million.
“I said last week on here that I thought Penrith would win by 40, no one pushed back on me, no one called me out. I think we assumed that Penrith would come out and absolutely roll this mob. Credit to them. It went to golden point but I don’t think the Panthers deserved to go to golden point.
“Anyone saying that they were celebrating too hard then I don’t think you understand the position they were in. They’re the ‘little brother’, the guys that we as a whole dismiss as Super League. Yeah, it’s good but we would probably compare it to the New South Wales Cup standard, that’s definitely not true. I think they deserve all the raps, to do it in Penrith against a side that’s been as dominant as they have. Yes they were missing a few players but at the end of the day they still had a bunch of absolute guns.”
