NRL journalist suggests Wigan Warriors would have no chance against Penrith Panthers in Australia

Wigan Warriors are set to collide with the Penrith Panthers in the 2024 World Club Challenge after both were crowned Champions in 2023.

In 2023, Penrith lost the World Club Challenge against St Helens even though they were widely expected to win and win comfortably being at home.

They were beaten in Golden Point by a Lewis Dodd drop goal and it was widely argued that they hadn’t taken the game seriously.

This year, they are set to take on Wigan away on the 24th February and already the question is being asked if Wigan can beat the reigning NRL Champions of the last three years.

The notorious Mole of Wide World of Sports is among those having the discussion suggesting now Wigan have a chance of beating Penrith implying that Wigan would have no chance away.

He asked: “Can Wigan Warriors beat Penrith Panthers now it appears the World Club Challenge will be held in the UK?”

This prompted one fan to say: “No chance. Penrith didn’t take it seriously last year.”

If there was any doubt about Penrith taking the 2024 World Club Challenge seriously, Ivan Cleary’s comments show that they certainly will.

“It would be awesome to get another crack at it,” Cleary told AAP.

“We were pretty bummed about that one. We absolutely gave it our best, it was the first game of the year and St Helens were too good for us that night. It would be nice to get another shot at it.”

This came as he celebrated the Grand Final win over Brisbane Broncos.

“Queenslanders kind of fail at the end a lot of the time, so we knew that they (the Broncos) would falter,” Cleary said.

“Nah, halfway through the second half I was like ‘shit, get us out of here’, we were in all sorts. I’ve got no idea how we managed to pull that back.”

Cleary was asked about his son, Panthers halfback Nathan, who won his second Clive Churchill Medal and scored the winning try late in the grand final.

“I actually said to him yesterday that if I’d married someone else he would have been a pretty shit player,” the coach joked.

“I’ve got to thank his mum for everything that he’s got, because it’s certainly not from me.

“You know what, he owes me, too. I’ve driven him to that many things, I’ve made lunches for him and done all this stuff.

“But he’s actually now making my life easy, so I love you Nathan.”