World Club Challenge: Wigan Warriors hope to upset 'best-ever NRL side' Penrith Panthers

Kruise Leeming scored a try on his Wigan Warriors debut against Castleford Tigers in their season-opening victory last weekend

"I've tried my best to not speak about it. At the start of pre-season you just want to get through every day."

Kruise Leeming is well aware of the pressure on Wigan as they prepare to face Australian NRL premiers Penrith Panthers in Saturday's World Club Challenge.

His flying visit down under with Gold Coast Titans lasted less than a season.

But he returns with a Wigan side aiming to cause a northern hemisphere upset for the second season in a row.

"It's another massive achievement I'll be nervous for. It'll be a big moment in my life. I think nerves come when your brain tells your body you're about to do something big," Leeming told BBC Radio Manchester.

Leeming is named in the squad despite coming off with an ankle injury in Wigan's season-opener at Castleford last week.

But he has adopted a positive mindset in order to prepare himself to face-off against one of the most formidable NRL sides ever seen.

"My only goal, and it sounds really cliched, is just to try and be my best every day. Everything I've done, running, ball work, video sessions, even going for coffees, being my best is staying the extra hour and not rushing to get home," he added.

"Every little aspect I've tried to do my best. I'm trying to stay in that mindset of just knocking off each day and session."

Cleary targets Penrith's elusive title

Penrith have already made history in the NRL era by becoming the first team to win three premierships on the spin - the first since the great New South Wales Rugby League-winning Parramatta side of the early 1980s to achieve the feat.

Such an achievement has put the Panthers among the elite sides of Australian rugby league history, but one competition eludes them as a club.

While the old 'chocolate soldiers' nickname - partly based on their old kit but also their lack of success - has long been dispelled, not even stellar names as Greg Alexander, Royce Simmons, Craig Gower and Luke Lewis were able to lift the World Club Challenge for the club.

Penrith head coach Ivan Cleary has led his side to three consecutive NRL titles

Defeat by St Helens last year has fuelled their fire to finally take the spoils - having previously lost to Wigan in 1991, and then Bradford in 2004.

"It's one thing that we haven't been able to do," head coach Ivan Cleary said.

"Only 12 teams have actually won this thing - we've had three goes at it in our history and missed out last year.

"It would be nice to be the first Panthers team to get one. If you look at the history, it's big clubs like Roosters, Wigan, Melbourne Storm, Leeds and St Helens that have won.

"To join that list would be pretty cool."

As St Helens learned in winning four titles in Super League, the pressure ramps up the longer success lasts.

For Penrith's squad, this jaunt to the northern hemisphere has benefits far beyond the rugby league paddock.

"It's not just about rugby league, it's about English culture," Cleary added.

"A lot of our boys have actually been over here but some of them haven't, and just to be able to come over here as a team at the start of the season - that can help you as well, just being together.

"We'll be up against it on Saturday night but it's a trip that everyone's really looked forward to."

'They're in the conversation for best NRL team ever'

Wigan will hope to pull off victory over the Panthers after St Helens' memorable win in Australia last year.

From a bountiful 2023 campaign - which saw Matt Peet mastermind Wigan winning the League Leaders' Shield, as well as ending Saints' dynasty by beating Catalans in the Super League Grand Final - Saturday's hosts hope to kick on and add the World Club Challenge to their trophy cabinet.

"We're sold out at the DW Stadium which is unbelievable. We probably take it for granted now," Cherry and Whites captain Liam Farrell told BBC Radio Manchester.

"Wigan fans turn out in these big occasions like they always do, whether it's a Good Friday game against St Helens or the World Club Challenge.

"This is the fruits of our labour from last year, when we put in the hard work to win the League Leaders' Shield and won the Grand Final.

"To have the opportunity to play the best team the NRL has ever had is very exciting to us."

But are the Panthers, after their period of dominance, really the best team assembled in the NRL?

Farrell added: "I can only go off their achievements. There are not many teams that have been able to win three on the bounce, which is unheard of.

"They're very successful. But they'll be up there in the conversations."

Team news

Leeming is named in Wigan's 21-player squad to face Penrith on Saturday, despite sustaining an ankle knock in their Super League round one win at Castleford.

He was heavily strapped up on the sidelines after his try-scoring debut for the Cherry and Whites but is fit to face the Panthers.

Luke Thompson misses out, having failed a head injury assessment in last week's win, with academy graduate Harvie Hill likely to take his place.

Tiaki Chan is the only addition to Wigan's squad, meanwhile.

Penrith have named a strong side for their first real outing since the 2023 Grand Final win over the Brisbane Broncos.

In the absence of Jarome Luai through injury, Jack Cole starts in the halves. Taylan May gets the nod in the centres following Stephen Crichton's move to Canterbury over the off-season.

Scott Sorensen misses out from the pack with a leg injury, so Luke Garner takes his place in the pack. Jack Cogger's exit gives Tyrone Peachey a place on the bench.

Wigan Warriors: Field, Miski, Keighran, Wardle, Marshall, French, Smith, O'Neill, Byrne, Isa, Farrell, Ellis, Cooper, Mago, Leeming, Dupree, Hill, Hampshire, Chan, Eckersley, Forber.

Penrith Panthers: Edwards; Turuva, Tago, May, To'o; Cole, Cleary; Leota, Kenny, Fisher-Harris, Garner, Martin, Yeo.

Interchanges: Peachey, Smith, Henry, Eisenhuth [Schneider]