Panthers tell NRL they ‘can’t play’ in World Club Challenge due to scheduling

The Panthers have alerted the NRL the club won’t be able to play in the annual World Club Challenge this year due to concerns around scheduling issues caused by internationals and the 2025 Las Vegas opener.

The snub should give Penrith players more of a chance to recover from a huge 2024, with many now preparing to play in the Pacific Championships before getting an offseason.

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Dylan Edwards, Liam Martin, Lindsay Smith, and Isaah Yeo have all been named in the Australia squad, while James Fisher-Harris, Casey McLean, Scott Sorensen, and Trent Toelau will be representing New Zealand and Soni Luke and Paul Alamoti have both been selected for Tonga. Nathan Cleary is also set to undergo postseason surgery to his shoulder.

“You couldn’t put the players through it. We can’t play it,” Panthers CEO Brian Fletcher said.

“The amount of football 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 and we have a lot of surgery to be done on players this offseason.

“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.”

Under the NRL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, players must have an eight-week off-season break.

The game was already in doubt with Wigan, one of the two teams that could contest the World Club Challenge, also already attending Las Vegas alongside several NRL teams. Should the other English team Warrington win things would become easier—that is, until the Panthers scrapped the whole thing no matter how the decider ends.

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Penrith has never won the World Club Challenge, losing its last two attempts to St Helens 13-12 in 2023 and the Wigan Warriors 16-12 in February before the 2024 NRL season.