A play-off between the champions of the NRL and the English Super League is in danger of being shelved for the first time in nearly two decades, with Australian clubs showing little interest in next year's World Club Series particularly due to the demanding schedule brought on by the World Cup.
NRL clubs, including premiers Melbourne, will supply dozens of players to the 14 nations competing in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea from October 27 but the tournament stands to have a significant impact on teams' preparations for next year's NRL competition.
The Auckland Nines and the All Stars match have already been taken off the calendar as a result next year and the World Club Challenge – which in recent years has formed part of the WCS concept – is looking increasingly likely to be the latest casualty of the 2018 pre-season
Melbourne are still basking in the glory of their 34-6 grand final victory over North Queensland on Sunday night and are yet to properly turn their attention to what lies ahead this summer.
However, with seven members of the Kangaroos squad and an already-busy pre-season schedule it is understood there is not a great desire at the Storm to take on the winners of the English Super League and contest the WCC, let alone travel to the northern hemisphere as previous NRL premiers have done.
Melbourne and the Cowboys already have a testimonial match in the works for their captains Cameron Smith and Johnathan Thurston at Suncorp Stadium. And they are likely to travel across the Tasman for another pre-season trial against the New Zealand Warriors after the two teams met on the Sunshine Coast in February. If the Storm do not take up an offer to play the winner of Saturday's Super League grand final between Leeds and Castleford, it would be the first time since 1999 that a WCC match has not been held.
There is a similar mood of indifference among other Australian clubs despite the fact they stand to be paid $100,000 from the Super League for taking part in the WCS and can collect an additional £25,000 ($42,500) for winning.
English clubs have picked up the $300,000 travel bill for touring Australian teams in recent seasons as the concept was expanded from just a play-off between the NRL and Super League winners to involve as many as three clubs from each competition. That was reduced to two each this year with Brisbane joining 2016 premiers Cronulla in England.
While there have been suggestions the WCS could be held in Australia, Leeds and Castleford are pushing ahead with plans to host Australian clubs in February. Leeds announced on Tuesday that their WCS match would be held at Elland Road.
"We are keen to see it continue, the World Club Challenge," Rugby Football League chief Nigel Wood told Fairfax Media on Tuesday night. "We have always been very committed to it and we remain very committed to it. We think that international club competition is something that should be invested in as an emerging and developing dimension to the sport."
If the matches do not go ahead there will not be a complete absence of action between Australian and English teams in the pre-season. A double header of trials at ANZ Stadium on February 17 will feature matches between South Sydney and WIgan, and St George Illawarra and Hull. The two Super League sides will meet in Wollongong the week before in a competition game.
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