Jamie Peacock’s bold statement about St Helens in the World Club Challenge

With Super League returning tonight, it is easy to forget that St Helens are trying to be crowned World Champions on Saturday as they take on back-to-back NRL Champions Penrith Panthers.

Speaking on The Lack Tackle, a former World Champion with Bradford Bulls and Leeds Rhinos, Jamie Peacock has claimed that if Saints defeat Penrith it would be “the finest achievement” in Super League history: “As a player you want to test yourself against the best in the world and you do that when you’re playing the World Club Challenge.

“For me Saints’ run over the last four years has been extraordinary but I feel this is the biggest challenge that this group of players will have had in those four years.

“his Penrith side are not just a good NRL side, they’ve been the standout NRL side for the last couple of years. I think if Saints can walk away from this and become World Club Champions, that will be the finest achievement I think of any Super League club in the modern era.”

This was echoed by former Saint Kyle Amor :”As JP said, if they can get that done it will do down as one of the biggest achievements in our game.”

Meanwhile, St Helens star Morgan Knowles stated that he believes his side are underdogs and that they are out to prove Super League should get more respect:

“We’ll be underdogs going in, as a Super League side we get rated as a second tier competition and we’ll be going into it expecting that. We’ll be giving our best best crack and see where we’re at.

“Like I said yeah obviously, with how Super League gets viewed, it’s Super League against the NRL and obviously the rivalry between England and Australia. So hopefully there’s a few more people other than just Saints’ fans can get behind us a little bit but we know what we’re up against.”