Paul Wellens weighs in on what IMG should do with this rugby league concept

There has been plenty of debate about what IMG should and shouldn’t do.

This includes the World Club Challenge as St Helens prepares for a clash down under against the Penrith Panthers.

Now Paul Wellens have weighed in on whether IMG should expand the concept in the coming years.

He said:

“It could be an opportunity they would have to make it work financially but I don’t see why not.

“People compare the NRL and Super League and what players can play NRL, this is an opportunity for us to show us how good we are and show who we are as a club.

“We have had a lot of success playing in a certain way and me as a coach we don’t want to change much but we have to find areas to improve.”

However, he did caution against this due to rugby league’s tendency to cram too much into the season:

“Potentially, what we have to be careful of is that there is only 52 weeks in a year. We are guilty that we cram too many things in so we are diluting the product.

“We ask a lot of our players in Super League. So if we expand something like the World Club Challenge, it will have to be at the expense of something else.

“IMG are smarter than me and I am happy for them to do something like this so long as it isn’t at the expense of player welfare.”