Penrith Panthers have named 16 of the 17 players that triumphed in last year's NRL Telstra Premiership Grand Final in an 18-man squad for the World Club Challenge clash with Bradford on February 13 at Huddersfield.

Australian sides have a history of coming into the match under-prepared but the Panthers are promising to treat the match as a Grand Final.

Penrith chief executive Shane Richardson said: "Aussie teams don't have a great record in the World Club Challenge, perhaps because some of them haven't taken it too seriously. But we are taking it very seriously. In fact, we're treating it as a Grand Final."

Richardson, a former boss of Hull FC, added: "We see the match as an important stepping stone in our desire to become recognised as the best rugby league club in the world.

"It is also important for Penrith as it will put the name of the city right up there on the world sporting stage."

Scott Sattler, now with Wests Tigers, is the only player missing from the Panthers' 2003 Grand Final line-up.

Bradford's Penrith-born utility Michael Withers said the Bulls had spent plenty of time during the pre-season studying Penrith.

"We are more confident than we were going into the Newcastle game and we won that pretty convincingly," he said.

"The coaching staff have done a lot of homework on them. Every time we have dinner or lunch they are on TV, so we are looking at them every day."