World Club Challenge Buildup

 

As a supporter of a Super League club, first and foremost and Rugby League second. The International game is of little importance amd if anything, I have more affinity with Papua New Guinea than England, with PNG having four current Internationals and a connection to former player like Nene McDonald to the Leigh Leopards.

The World Club Challenge is only ever played by the Super League Grand Final winners, and Super League has only produced 5 of them in 30 years. They are, of course, all the teams you like to hate, due to all the times they have lorded over your team down the years. Hull KR have a little more sympathy than some of the other teams that have taken part in previous challenges. 

To the best of my knowledge, Leigh and the Brisbane Broncos have no history of having played against one another, and by that logic, I am more than willing to support the Broncos for an evening. Reece Walsh, appears to be a more amiable figure than Mikey Lewis, so they get my vote.

The press are going to cover nothing else but the World Club Challenge until Friday night, when the focus will switch back to the Super League before being totally Las Vegas-centric next week. It might be easier to swallow if the season was several weeks old, but in reality everybody is still rocking from the amazing stories of Round 1, which have been cut short to focus on Hull KR and Brisbane.

Interesting that James Child on the Forty20 podcast believes that Mikey Lewis should have been red-carded for the most obvious trip in the history of the game. If that is a Yellow card, then when is a trip ever a straight Red?  The solution by the Match Review Panel, allows Mikey to play in the showcase game, but it means he is on a tightrope for the rest of the season.