The anticipated announcement that the World Club Challenge has been expanded to six teams next year is a complete waste of time.

While originally I was excited for an idea like this, the format that has been selected is all wrong and only adds to player burnout.

Next year, the 2014 premiers will be joined by South Sydney and Brisbane in a six-team World Club Challenge. If South Sydney or Brisbane win this year’s premiership then the Warriors will be joining them.

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It is believed that Wigan, Leeds and Warrington will be the English teams involved. If South Sydney win the premiership this year then we would potentially be sending two teams that didn’t even make the top eight. That is hardly the cream of the crop.

The format of the competition also leaves a lot to be desired. The two third-ranked teams will play each other, followed by the two second-ranked teams which would then be followed by the actual World Club Challenge.

That seems to me like a whole lot of travelling for not a lot of point.

Ideally an expanded World Club Challenge would be a great idea if it involved sending the top three or four teams from each competition to play in some sort of a round robin competition where the winners of each group play off in the final.

But while this idea sounds good in theory, in reality it is asking too much of the players when they have a full season of football ahead of them. It would also probably take too long to stage as well.

We hear about player burnout all too often these days and many people in the know suggest that we are asking too much of the players, especially the elite representative players, so why are we adding more games to an already congested season? Already we have the World Club Challenge as it stands now combined with the all-stars game and the nines competition, the preseason seems too congested as it is if you ask me.



The craziest thing about this whole concept is that only one of the three matches has any merit, that is the playoff between the two premiers. The other two games are nothing more than exhibitions and who honestly is going to remember who won them in years to come. I wouldn’t be surprised if coaches rested players from these two matches and left some of their stars in Australia.

Premiers returning from England after the World Club Challenge often suffer from pre-season ‘hangovers’ where the travel they have had to do takes a toll on them over the first few rounds of the season. Normally that is seen as a challenge for the premiers to overcome and is another way of providing such an even competition.

If next years concept goes ahead, and it is believed at this stage that it will, then we will have three teams potentially starting the season flat and jet-lagged. A team like the Broncos, who may miss out on this year’s finals, definitely can’t afford to start on the wrong foot if they want to improve under Wayne Bennett.

By inviting teams the whole prestige of the event is taken away. I understand that Brisbane and South Sydney have the most fans and attract the biggest market and that is why they have been selected to go but what is the real point?

My suggestion is to keep it how it is. The top NRL side plays off against the top Super League side but lets alternate it between countries every year. It was great to see it in Australia this year so hopefully it is back in 2016. This way the game is still an honour and considered worthwhile and meaningful to both players and fans