Test match action will return to Wollongong later this year with WIN Stadium in line to host World Cup winners Australia in the end-of-season Four Nations tournament.

The Mercury understands the city's premier sporting venue will be unveiled as a host stadium when the Four Nations tournament is officially launched in Brisbane on Wednesday.

Australia will meet the Pacific Islands representatives - either Fiji or Samoa - with the last remaining side to join the Kangaroos, New Zealand and England in the tournament.

The match will be played on the weekend of November 8-9.

Fiji and Samoa will clash at Penrith next month in a Four Nations qualifier on the same weekend as the annual City-Country match.

The winner will be guaranteed a spot in the tournament, which has traditionally fostered the development of emerging rugby league countries.

The news comes as a huge boost for Illawarra rugby league supporters, who were frustrated when St George Illawarra slashed their home game allocation in the region from six to four this year.

But WIN Stadium has since been granted hosting rights to the annual Charity Shield clash, which was played outside Sydney for the first time since its inception in 1982.

News a Test match is coming to Wollongong further fuels excitement about WIN Stadium's ability to again draw top-class sporting fixtures to the region.

WIN Stadium officials have been deep in negotiations to bring a Test match to Wollongong for some time and seemingly have secured a massive coup.

The fact some of Australia's finest players will be involved is an even bigger drawcard, barring any off-season surgeries.

Fiji and Samoa met in the quarter-finals of last year's World Cup.

That was before the Bati were thumped 64-0 by a rampant Kangaroos in the semi-finals.

WIN Stadium last hosted a Test match back in 2008 when Fiji beat France as part of the 2008 Cup.

This year's Four Nations tournament is set to include a double-header at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium, while the final will be played across the Tasman in Wellington.

The match will provide St George Illawarra flyer Brett Morris, barring injury, with a chance to play in front of his home crowd after starring in the Kangaroos' World Cup campaign.

Morris was the leading try-scorer in the tournament as Australia exacted revenge over New Zealand in the final for their bitter defeat at Suncorp Stadium in 2008.