Missing the chance to tick the only box the Penrith players have missed during their four years of domination is “disappointing”, but premiership-winning Penrith co-captain Isaah Yeo says adding the World Club Challenge to their pre-season is just too hard.
Penrith officials confirmed the four-time premiership outfit would not take on the winner of Sunday’s Super League decider between Wigan and Hull KR for several reasons, including the massive player workload.
The Panthers are scheduled to travel to Las Vegas for round 1 of the 2025 season and don’t want to add a February showdown with the UK Super League champions to the schedule with players not due back at training until January.
In two attempts during their amazing run of NRL premiership wins, the Panthers have failed to win the WCC, losing to St Helens and Wigan.
That’s a fact not lost on Yeo, who was crowned Penrith’s player of the year, but the realities of the fixture and workloads has made it one challenge they can’t meet.
“You’d love to get it on, I just don’t know you could work it, to be fair,” he said at Wednesday’s official fan celebration for the Panthers’ grand final win.
“Obviously, as a group we’d love to because it’s something we’ve missed, sort of the only thing that’s missing on the resume. You’d love another opportunity to try and make amends for that.
“It’s just so hard with Vegas. If we weren’t doing Vegas, I reckon we’d be a chance, but that just makes it a bit harder.”
NRL rules dictate players must have 10 weeks leave after the season, and with as many as 12 players Penrith players set to participate in Samoa’s tour of England or the Pacific Championships, that return date will blow out.
Players like superstar Nathan Cleary also need post-season surgery and could be among a long list of players with as little as six or eight weeks of training leading into the opening round in Las Vegas.
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