The long, long wait for World Club Challenge glory was nothing compared to the agonising 55-hour return journey home for St Helens.
The Herald can reveal half a dozen players and staff, including Jack Roby and Jack Welsby, flew out of Sydney at 6am on Sunday, and did not arrive home until 1am Tuesday.
The players went via Bangkok and then Stockholm, where there was plenty of snow and a cancelled flight, only for an eventual plane to take them to London instead of Manchester.
The group then missed the connecting flight to Manchester, and had to rely on one of their sponsors, Ellisons, to arrange a coach to complete the four-and-a-half hour trip back to St Helens.
Saints chief executive Mike Rush said the marathon trip evoked memories of the movie Home Alone, and quipped Panthers officials may have had a word to the airlines as a form of payback for losing Saturday’s golden-point epic.
“A lot of the boys enjoyed a good drink after the Penrith game, but a long layover in Bangkok meant they could go to a hotel and get some sleep,” Rush told the Herald.
Jubilant St Helens players celebrate their dramatic win on Saturday night.Credit:NRL Photos
“By the time they arrived in Stockholm they were forced to wait another nine hours. Instead of flying to Manchester, they flew to London where they were not allowed to get on the connecting flight because they had not unloaded all their bags.
“I’m sure a few of them will chase me around the stadium and blame me for the booking. Maybe the Panthers had something to do with it.