Penrith have denied they’re about to change their name after the NRL club lodged a trademark application to purchase the Western Sydney Panthers trademark.

With the arrival of the Greater Western Sydney AFL team and the yet-to-be-named new western Sydney A-League club that will start up later this year, the region has become a battleground for sporting domination between the three rival codes.

However, Panthers spokesperson Melissa Seiler said the application, made 10 days ago, was merely to protect the club’s future interests.

“We made the decision because we noticed the Western Sydney Panthers name was available and we wanted to make sure that no one else could use it,” Seiler told AAP.

“There’s nothing much more to it. We will always be Penrith Panthers – that won’t change. But if we want to use the name in the future for a promotion or commercial reasons, we can.

“It was a move taken to safeguard the Panthers name in the Western Sydney region and nothing more to it than that.”