Stevo told Boots 'n' All expanding the World Club Challenge would put the international game at risk.
Let's focus on beating Australia at international level, says Stevo
Stevo fears that an expansion of the World Club Challenge would put international rugby league at risk.
Following Leeds Rhinos' victory over NRL champions Manly Sea Eagles in this year's World Club Challenge, there has been much debate about whether the competition could be expanded to include more teams.
It certainly dominated the thoughts of the experts in the Boots 'n' All studio this week, but Stevo had the most pessimistic outlook towards the idea of extending the event because of the damage it might do to the sport at international level.
"I think the idea is great, but the logistics are very difficult to put in place, it's as simple as that," he said.
"I fear for a lot of the players, a lot of the major players are saying that the season is far too long. When you throw in internationals you wonder what's going to happen to them?
"Down in Australia the State of Origin has eroded the views of the fans and the players away from internationals.
"Now every young kid, in my opinion, in any sport, wants to represent their country. They want to win a World Cup, they want to win a Test series, it's very simple.
"If this erodes the international programme then we're faced with a very difficult problem - and that problem is that any young kid coming through says 'I can't play for my country, then I'll go to another sport where I can.'"
Not negative
Stevo said he was proud to represent England during his playing career and does not want to see that level of sport diluted by domestic rugby.
And while the gap between club teams is closer across the hemispheres than it is between the national teams, he feels that is no good reason to prioritise the domestic game.
"I'm not negative about it," he said. "It was a great game last weekend, absolutely fantastic, but sometimes you've got to look at common sense.
"Sometimes you've got to say 'what's the dangers and what are the pitfalls?' The danger, as far as I'm concerned is that this could be farewell for international rugby league. Some people have never experienced the feeling you get of pulling on your national jersey.
"You get to the situation where we say: 'We can't beat the Aussies and we can't beat the New Zealanders, so let's think of something where we can be proud and we can be world champions.
"We should concentrate more on the fact we haven't beaten the Australians for 40 years in a major competition. All of a sudden we've decided, hang on, we can't beat them, let's change it."
