Rugby League has really pushed the boat out this year when it comes to repackaging their competitions.

The new Super League system seems to have had an instant impact, and if the opening round of Kingstone Press Championship matches was anything to go by that could be an even more bruising battle – certainly if relegated Bradford Bulls’ experience in their 36-24 defeat at Leigh is anything to go by.

However, over the next few days another revamped competition has a first airing as the new format for what was the World Club Challenge is reborn.

The competition has been renamed the World Challenge Series for 2015, but essentially we are being treated to three one-off games in quick succession that really have no bearing on one another.

While expansion is always necessary to develop the game, it is hard to see just how these matches will draw in a new audience given only Sunday’s St Helens clash with South Sydney at Langtree Park has anything to do with gaining the title World Club Champions.

Had the six clubs involved – Warrington play host to St George on Friday evening before Wigan host Brisbane Broncos on Saturday night – been involved in some kind of round-robin series it would have made the series more meaningful in terms of competition.

However, it’s only right to remember how we have reached this situation.

Way back in 1997 a far more adventurous scheme was hit upon where all 22 clubs from the Australasian and European Super League championships played in the Visa World Club Championship.

With teams split into pools, there were three games to be played by most teams in Australia in mid-June, followed by the reverse fixtures on these shores in mid-July.

At the time I was covering the strangely named Blue Sox of Halifax for the Evening Courier and was somewhat disappointed, though not surprised, to find that the paper was not wiling to fund a two-week trip down under to cover the opening round of games – despite the fact I pointed out that the Evening Post in Leeds, Telegraph and Argus in Bradford and even the Chronicle in Oldham (who only had two matches) sent their reporters out.

While I am sure I would have enjoyed the experience anyway, in the end I was more than a little relieved that I was not spending all my time in the company of the Thrum Hallers on their antipodean adventure.

Drawn in a group with Canberra, Canterbury and Brisbane the games unfolded with the Blue Sox being ripped apart 70-6 by the Raiders, the Sox did enough darning to fill a few holes and only lose to the Bulldogs 58-6 before being totally washed up and hung out to dry as they went down 76-0 to the Broncos – a then club record defeat for the men in blue and white hoops.

One of my main contacts for early morning calls to Aussie to catch up on the latest in the camp was then Halifax skipper Karl Harrison.

Now ‘Rhino’ is as personable a guy as you could ever wish to meet, but having to coax a few comments out of a severely hacked off Harrison on the blower from the other side of the world convinced me that I was just as well being at home.

The return matches did not go much better as the Blue Sox went down 44-20 to the Bulldogs, 42-12 to the Raiders before being battered 54-10 by the Broncos.

Arguably the only surprise for the Australian teams was that temperatures on an evening at Thrum Hall could still fall into single figures despite the July sun trying to do its level best to shine a bit.

Perhaps the bigger surprise was that the organisers had hoped for bumper crowds, but the Halifax experience was the showpiece games against some of the best of the Australian sides produced attendances averaging around 3,500, which was distinctly below what the Blue Sox would have expected for a domestic Super League game at that time.

Such was the disappointment in many camps with the experiment that any thought of a world club competition of any sort was laid to rest for a couple of years before returning in 2000 as a one-off challenge match between the winners of Super League and the NRL – and so it has existed until this season.

Having been to a couple of the finals, I have to say that they proved interesting enough diversions but hardly generating the kind of expectation of a big Super League contest or the excitement of a final or an international.

So that is probably why we find those that run rugby league on either side of the globe busy tinkering again to try and find a scenario that actually has some kind of lasting appeal.

My suggestion would be to wait until the end of the respective seasons and then let the top four teams from each competition meet in straight knockout quarter-finals (top v fourth, second v third, etc) and semi-finals, with a final to be played at the most apt venue in either England or Australia.

However, whether anyone would be willing to shake up the respective league and international calendars sufficiently to suit such an experiment is extremely arguable.

Anyway, let us send our best wishes to the inaugural World Challenge Series and all those who sail in her, and may they be blessed by huge attendances.

However, if you are thinking of putting your money on any aspect of the World Challenge Series, I would see what odds the bookies are offering on this competition being revamped as early as 2016.