Huge World Club Challenge update as Penrith Panthers make decision on event’s future in 2025

Any hopes of the World Club Challenge being held in 2025 appear to be fading: after the CEO of NRL champions Penrith Panthers appeared to indicate they would not be willing to play the event next year.

The Panthers won a fourth successive NRL title last weekend after defeating Melbourne Storm to cement their legacy as one of the game’s all-time great sides.

Super League officials had hoped that the Panthers would accommodate whoever won this weekend’s Grand Final at Old Trafford in Australia next year for a showdown between the sport’s two major champions.

But according to reports in Australia, Penrith have no desire to play in a World Club Challenge owing to their schedule. They will head to Las Vegas as part of the NRL’s trip to the United States, meaning there is no room in their calendar for a game against the Super League champions.

Penrith CEO Brian Fletcher called the prospect of playing the game ‘impractical’, telling reporters in Australia there is ‘no way in the world’ they would participate.

He said: “You couldn’t put the players through it. We can’t play it, we don’t have the time span.

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“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 is a major blow for the event, which has become a firm favourite among Super League supporters in recent years after victories for St Helens and Wigan in 2023 and 2024.

Hull KR had been willing to travel to Australia to play in the game if they had won this weekend’s Grand Final at Old Trafford. But it appears that no matter who wins on Saturday, they will not get the chance to play in a World Club Challenge.

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