New Australian tournament which could feature St Helens reportedly “well supported”

St Helens look to be headed to Australia.

The club have, for the time being at least, foregone potential involvement in Round One of the Betfred Super League to leave the weekend of the 18-19th February free for a potential World Club Challenge clash with Penrith Panthers which, according to Australian sources, is set to be played down under.

However, the Saints could be involved in far more than just a one off game in Australia.

This is because, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, the NRL is considering a new pre-season tournament to get more eyes on their pre-season games and adding something to their usual trial games.

The tournament will involve the 16 teams from the NRL in 2022, the NRL new boys The Dolphins, with the 18-team line up completed by St Helens should the tournament be green lit and the Saints accept their invite.

There are still a number of obstacles in the way of this tournament with the NRL expanding to 27 rounds as well as a proposed Round Zero in America all of which has the players association on red alert but a report from The Age claims that NRL clubs are very much behind the idea of the tournament.

They claim that the proposed new tournament is “well-supported” by NRL clubs though it remains to be seen whether or not St Helens would keen on spending their pre-season down under.