New St Helens coach Paul Wellens believes winning the World Club Challenge against Penrith would rank among the greatest achievements in the 150-year history of the proud Merseyside club.
Wellens, a club legend who played 495 matches in the famous Red V, takes over from Dolphins assistant Kristian Woolf after a long apprenticeship under the Tonga mentor (2020-2022) and Titans coach Justin Holbrook (2017-2019).
After a pre-season trial against Widnes last weekend, the former England international begins the club's quest for a fifth consecutive Super League premiership by bringing the team to Australia to face the Dragons and Panthers.
St Helens will warm-up for the World Club Challenge at BlueBet Stadium with a match against St George Illawarra in Wollongong on February 11.
Both fixtures are part of the new NRL Pre-season Challenge, which includes the English powerhouse and the 17 Telstra Premiership clubs.
However, the focus for Saints is firmly on their eighth appearance in the World Club Challenge - including the inaugural WCC against Eastern Suburbs Roosters at the SCG in 1976 - at Penrith on February 18.
The club, which was founded in 1873 and joined the breakaway Northern Union in 1895, has won the World Club Challenge just twice – in 2001 and 2007.
Both triumphs were in England and Wellens has told his players they have a chance to create history by emulating the success of the 1994 Wigan team which beat the Broncos 20-14 before a crowd of 54,220 at Brisbane's QEII Stadium.
“We are super excited about this Penrith game, and we want to go there, we want to perform well and give a really good account of ourselves, and if we perform well bring home that trophy,” Wellens said.
“That would the absolute pinnacle of this club’s history. It certainly would, when you look at the Penrith team and the calibre of players they have and the coach as well. What they have achieved over the last couple of years has been magical.
People in the UK still reference Wigan going Down Under and beating Brisbane all those years ago.
“For us to be able to go over there and do something similar would be great – not just for our club, but I think it would be a timely shot in the arm for Super League and British rugby league in general.”
In a wide-ranging interview before the team’s departure from Manchester on Tuesday, Wellens told Saints TV that he was hoping to field his strongest side against the Panthers, including influential back Will Hopoate.
Hopoate, who succumbed to a hamstring problem in the first half of Tonga’s epic 20-18 World Cup quarter-final loss to Samoa last November, played just nine matches for Saints in 2022 but walked off as a winner on each occasion – including the grand final triumph against Leeds at Old Trafford.
“Hoppa is someone who, whenever he played for us last year, his quality just showed,” Wellens said.
“We need to get him on the field a lot more and what we have added is a lot more of a patient approach with Hoppa, because obviously when you keep having a recurring injury you need to have a deeper look into how we can resolve that issue.
“What we are not going to do with Will now is rush things or do anything rash, but we are confident that should he continue to progress the way he is he is a good chance of playing in that Penrith game.”
Boom halfback Louis Dodds and England internationals Mark Percival, Jonny Lomax and Alex Walmsley, who all missed the World Cup due to injury, are also expected to be fit for the World Club Challenge.
They will join England World Cup representatives Tommy Makinson, Jack Welsby, Morgan Knowles and Matty Lees in a star-studded line-up that also includes former NRL players Konrad Hurrell, Curtis Sironen, Sione Mata’utia, Agnatius Paasi, Joey Lussick and James Bell.
The St Helens squad also features veteran hooker James Roby, who has played more than 500 Super League matches and once rivalled Cameron Smith as the best dummy half in the game.
“It is a pretty unconventional start to my coaching career but I think that this group, when you look at what they have achieved - not just this year but in previous years when they haven’t had the opportunity to play in a World Club Challenge - deserves this chance more than any,” Wellens said.
“It is a really exciting opportunity as a club to go Down Under and play the Penrith Panthers, who in their own right are a fantastic team.
"It is a colossal challenge for us, but I know the guys are so excited about that challenge and the opportunity to go Down Under and showcase ourselves.”