Six tickets bought. Really looking forward to it.

Here’s hoping the trophy stays in the UK - good luck.

I think it has a great chance of a sell out in my opinion.

https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2023/12/ ... challenge/ Over 10k sold on first day. That's an immense response bearing in mind the release date came out of the blue only a few days before Christmas.

https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2023/12/ ... challenge/ Over 10k sold on first day. That's an immense response bearing in mind the release date came out of the blue only a few days before Christmas.

Outstanding. I presume a decent number will be the hospitality tickets Jason has mentioned but they still must’ve sold thousands yesterday. It’s got my backside in gear anyway. Typical RL fan mode was on and I planned to get them about 3 days before but going to sort ours later.

I tell you what I know my cup is always half full but this is going to be some event,as big as Manly was (not attendance) but for the impact it will have on the town and RL in general,especially if we win.

I'm not sure why but it certainly feels bigger than some of the ones in the last couple of decades. Maybe it's the fact Penrith are coming off the back of 3 titles on the spin or because we've not been in one for a while now. The fact it's a Saturday under the lights helps IMO but I think a major factor is the connection currently between the fans and the club. You know you can make a good day out of the event, get in the fan village and soak up the atmosphere and it also now feels like you can go in Whelans without thinking the money is going to the Bahraini mob.

It should be a great night.

Over the last few years its been just me and my eldest lad going to matches. Six of us for this game.

For 2024 season there will be four of us attending matches.

I think it's a mixture of a few things. 1. Penrith will obviously be up for it, especially after their mistake of not taking it seriously last year. 2. We've got a dam good side and the fan base is ready/expectant of a good performance and a shot at more success. 3. The club have made great strides engaging with the fan base and it's paying off - whether that's excitement about this game, or the increased season ticket sales. There's a good vibe.

On point 2. I've not felt this strongly about a team since 2011 and the Melbourne lads coming over. Obviously we've had success since then, but I've always thought the teams we've had haven't been the greatest or fluked a few finals. This is a strong team tho, with a good core of young lads. Add in Peet being the polar opposite of what irks me about Wane and I'm genuinely excited/feeling it. I'm not counting my chickens for 2024, but it looks as positive as it could be at this stage.

The team looks good. Hopefully it won't be a case of the game coming too early as we're still bedding new players in. Luckily the new guys are mainly in the forwards, so we'll still have pretty much the same spine guiding us around. In terms of the game and the match ups, we'll obviously need Field, French and Smith to fire. I just hope the Smithies exit doesn't bite us too hard in that game because him knitting the defence and leading the line speed could really be missed.

The crowd and the atmosphere could play a huge part also. As somebody who was at pretty much every GB/England test against the Aussies from the 90's onwards, I miss those nights under the lights and this should have a feeling of that. If the crowd really gets in to it, that could be worth a few points.

With over 10,000 tickets sold already (24 hrs) it does bode well for a bumper crowd.
What Matty Peet has done in his 2 yrs is remarkable if you think about it.
Most impressive is the re-connection with the town and fans.Robin Park is a complete winner for the fans,I cant praise enough the imput that Lenagan has put in over the years especially the formation of Robin Park as a place for the club and fans.

Won’t have a bigger impact on RL than saints did. They went over and won it in penriths back yard

What major impact on the sport did it have. Down under the result was treated like it never happened and largely ignored (it's not like it hasn't happened before).

Saints had a moderate average attendance increase up 12,695 from 11,851 in 2022. Solid but not spectacular and bearing in mind they are the only professional sporting team in the town.

What? the preseason challenge game?

Surely you’re not talking about that.

Of course it will Wigan are the bigger team.

PLEASE stop replying to him. Please.

So what's the difference this year?

Why bother engaging with this narrative?

The Wigan fans who like to play down the Saints result at Penrith aren't bright enough to realise they play into the wider narrative that will diminish their own success if they get a win.

To be fair It was a great win by St Helens,not all Wigan fans play down the win.
Its not like any Saints fans would play down any win by Wigan

Everyone who wrote off Saints beating Penrith as a 'pre-season friendly that Penrith weren't bothered about' has damned this game for being treated the same. Aussie sides will always say that, if they lose, English fans shouldn't give them the excuse. Saints won cos they couldn't be bothered, but if Wigan beat them, somehow it'll be different this time? Really?

Or, what Fear The Vee said.

It's also their arrogance in belittling the result that will have the majority of Saints fans cheering on Penrith.

Not all Wigan fans are arrogant as not all Saints fans are but most


I will always shout for the SL side against the NRL side.

I think had we been given more credit, I would've swayed with supporting Wigan. I'm also aware that there were some Wigan fans that gave due credit but lots more went with the narrative that Penrith weren't fussed, treated it as a friendly etc. I must have imagined Cleary's ice in the veins celebration when he tied the game with his conversion.

I have no doubt that if Wigan win it will be described as the best ever achievement by an English side as Penrith are on the back of a 3 peat and if Penrith win its because they have taken it ultra seriously this time.

There is obviously going to be some down playing of that Saints result by Wigan fans, as there would be on the flip side. It was an incredible achievement and something that the English game in general can be proud of and it will go down in Saints history.

Now for the honest part that Saints fans might not like-I don’t think anybody can deny Penrith took that game pretty easy (at least to start with). They didn’t risk players with knocks, it was lumped in as part of a programme of pre season friendlies and there seems a huge apathy with the fan base (they got their lowest crowd in many years) but even with all that, they should comfortably be beating any English club in their own country. They can spend 4 times as much as our clubs for starters, so it was still a ridiculous result for Saints.

Move forward to our game with them and I’d imagine Saints will have woken them up a bit and we’ll see a more focused Penrith rock up in Wigan. If they’re fully on, we won’t beat them and I’ve no issue admitting that. If we do beat them, I find we’ll need them to again be a bit arrogant about the fixture and should that come to fruition, it won’t take away from Wigans achievement because just like I noted above, a team spending 4 times what we can should be able to get over some arrogance/complacency, a lack of warm up fixtures and in this case travel.

People can think Saints beat a complacent Penrith ‘and’ think it was a great achievement, they don’t need to be mutually exclusive.

Honestly mate, you believe whatever you want to make yourself feel better about the game. Enjoy your victories, as much as you can.

I've said it before, Saints win was about a good of an achievement as Buster Douglas beating Tyson. He'll be in the history books for it. He, like Saints fans, will right dine out on it in years. Everyone else just shrugs their shoulders and says Tyson had a bad night.

This return match/ fight to keep the analogy going, is like Buster Douglas stepping back into the ring with a smarting Tyson. Make zero mistake - if we win, it will far out eclipse what you guys did. There won't be any flukes, or off nights this time.