‘Impractical’ – World Club Challenge cancelled by NRL champs Penrith Panthers

Penrith Panthers have vetoed any chance of the World Club Challenge going ahead in 2025 with the club deeming it ‘impractical’.

The Panthers picked up their fourth consecutive NRL Grand Final on Saturday as they cemented their status as the most dominant side in NRL history and the most dominant since the all-conquering St George team of the 1950s and 1960s.

However, one piece of silverware has evaded the club and that is the World Club Challenge trophy with Penrith contesting it three times but never having won it.

Those two most recent losses have come in 2023 and 2024 and after winning the Grand Final, it looked like the Panthers might rectify that in 2025 but it’s now been confirmed by club officials that they will not contest the World Club Challenge.

There had been doubt over the status of the game with Love Rugby League initially reporting that the Panthers would be unwilling to travel to England ahead of their trip to Las Vegas, however, it now seems to be the case that the Panthers will not play the game regardless.

World Club Challenge cancelled for 2025

News of Penrith’s reluctance and ultimate refusal to contest the game against the Super League champions was reported down under by The Daily Telegraph who cited Penrith’s group chief executive Brian Fletcher as the man to ‘veto’ the proposal.

They reported that: “Penrith have been forced to abandon playing the prestigious World Club Challenge amid fears of player burnout.”

It was even claimed by Fletcher that there was “no way in the world” that the game could be played given the current injury list the Panthers have, the number of their players included in the end-of-season internationals, and the club’s Las Vegas game against Cronulla Sharks in early March.

Penrith’s desire to be in America at least ten days prior to that game and the fact that the Pacific Championship Finals don’t wrap up until the 10th November left the weekend of February 15th and 16th as the likely date for the World Club Challenge to be contested.

However, Fletcher has argued: “You couldn’t put the players through it. We can’t play it, we don’t have the time span.

“It’s impractical. There’s no way in the world we could fit it into the schedule. Our coaches and football department have said the players couldn’t stand up to it.

“The amount of football that they’ve played and then a World Club Challenge before we go to Vegas – it becomes too much. Player welfare is the biggest problem. We have 20-odd players in the Pacific Test matches as well and we have a lot of surgery to be done on players over the off-season.”

It now appears that whoever wins between Wigan Warriors and Hull KR on Saturday night at Old Trafford will now have the privilege of playing in the World Club Challenge.