Super League champions St Helens are hoping to “prove a few people wrong” when they take on NRL powerhouses Penrith in the World Club Challenge on Saturday at 6.50pm AEDT.
It’ll be the first time the challenge has been played since early 2020 due to Covid-inflicted travel restrictions.
St Helens, who lost to the Roosters’ in the last World Club Challenge, are no strangers to success.
They’ve won the last four Super League grand finals, making this game a true clash of Australia and England’s most dominant clubs from the last few years.
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St Helens have already had a taste of the NRL standard, having beaten the Dragons 30-18 in the first week of the Pre-season Challenge — which they’re also competing in while in Australia.
But they know the Panthers are a different beast with former NRL star Curtis Sironen declaring them “the benchmark of the rugby league world.”
Sironen played 131 games over stints with the Wests Tigers and Sea Eagles before linking up with St Helens in 2022.
He’s been keeping an eye on the NRL though.
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“They’ve dominated for the last three years,” Sironen said about the Panthers.
“Playing them in 2020 and 2021, I got to know how good they were and how young they were. I’ve been watching them very closely… They’re just an outstanding club.
“When the Roosters went back-to-back, I didn’t think we’d see it again for a while but they’ve just gone bang. They’ve got this squad that’s getting better and better every year.
“They’re the benchmark of the rugby league world.”
There’s a bit of personal motivation for Sironen too that will fuel him when he runs out onto Bluebet Stadium.
The 29-year-old said the end to his time at Manly was “really disappointing” because he was “bitten by the injury bug” and “couldn’t get healthy enough to contribute.”
He only played six NRL games in his final year but bounced back in his debut season with St Helens, playing 24 games — the most he’s ever played in a year — with no major injury setbacks.
Sironen said “never say never” when asked about an NRL return but reiterated that he still has another year to go on his deal with St Helens.
That doesn’t mean he can’t use this game to remind NRL clubs — and fans — of what he can offer.
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“There is that little bit of motivation because when you’re out of sight you’re out of mind in our game. If you come back in and play well people say ‘oh that’s right’,” he said.
And as for a team, Sironen believes it’s a “massive opportunity” to “get a gauge on where we’re really are.”
But it’s also a chance to silence the Super League’s critics who say the standard of the competition is worlds behind the NRL.
“We’ll play against the Aussies’ best and show everyone what sort of players are over in England,” he said.
“Hopefully with us being the champions of England we can come and show everyone in Australia that it is a dominant league.
“That’s what we’re aiming to do — to prove a few of the Aussie people wrong.”
St Helens prop and English international Matty Lees is excited for the opportunity to finally “prove to everybody how good of a team we are.”
“We’re looking to close that gap and to show Australia that we can actually match with them,” he said.
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Former Manly and Eels hooker Joey Lussick — who is now playing off the bench for St Helens — knows Penrith are the “red-hot favourites,” but he believes his team has “earnt the right” to be still be in the conversation.
A big reason why the Panthers are favourites is because superstar playmaker Nathan Cleary has been named to play.
Sironen singled out the New South Wales and Australian halfback as “the head of the snake” that poses the biggest threat to St Helens.
“They’ve got strike all over the park but I think their halves pairing (of Cleary and Jarome Luai), the amount of games they’ve played together now, you see how dominant they are whether it be for NSW or Penrith… I think that’s where you see the penny drops,” he said.
“They’re forward pack is a joke too with (James) Fisher-Harris and guys like that, but Nathan is the head of the snake.”
Lussick is a self-confessed “footy nerd” so has been following the Panthers’ success.
“Penrith have been phenomenal, even when they lost to Melbourne (in 2020) they were still great,” he said.
“A group of them have been building since SG Ball and under 20s, they’ve been the team to beat — they’ve been unstoppable in some way.
“In their final against Souths (last season) they were down 12-nil so just their ability to stay calm. It doesn’t matter what type of game it is, whether it’s a trial or a grand final, they have an ability to play when it counts and stay in the game.”
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Aside from Cleary, there’s another big challenge St Helens will face — the 39-degree-heat in Penrith.
The squad arrived in Australia a couple of weeks ago and have settled in at Manly. But the environment it’s a staggering difference to the minus four temperature they were living in back home.
That’s not really an issue for Sironen and Lussick, but for the English players like Lees it’s a shock to the system.
“It’s a massive change,” Lees said.
“It’s going to be tough out there being a middle and playing big minutes.”
