St George Illawarra are in talks to take an NRL game outside of Australia and New Zealand for the first time as part of a bid by Fiji to stage two competition matches next season.
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The AFL made waves in May when the code ventured to China for a premiership match between Port Adelaide and the Gold Coast Suns and the NRL is now also on the brink of heading abroad.
The Dragons are in discussions with the Fiji National Rugby League about hosting a "home" game in 2018 at the 30,000-capacity National Stadium in Suva.
NRL clubs have entertained taking competition games overseas before – including when Manly and Canberra endeavouredunsuccessfully to play a fixture in Shenzhen, north of Hong Kong, in 2014 – but they have never got off the ground.
But with the Fiji NRL lobbying its government for funding and the Dragons open to expanding their horizons with their venue contracts expiring at the end of this season, a landmark match away from Australia and New Zealand is now on the cards.
St George Illawarra declined to comment when contacted on Wednesday but Fiji NRL chief executive Timoci Naleba has spoken about the league-mad country's desire to hold elite matches there.
"We have given our proposal to the government for their consideration and we are waiting for their response on the proposal," Naleba said last week. "I am working on that proposal with Fijian residents in Australia who are trying to get these type of events to boost sports tourism in Fiji. We are working hard with the NRL to make this happen, to get two matches to Fiji."
The Dragons are also understood to have been approached by interested parties in Christchurch and Auckland about taking a home game across the Tasman, with suitors well aware of the joint-venture's strong travelling supporter base.
The club is considering the Fijian offer due to the uncertainty over when the re-development of ANZ Stadium will commence. The nomadic Dragons use various venues as their home ground: their schedule this year has them playing two home matches at Sydney Olympic Park, as well as five at Jubilee Oval, four at WIN Stadium and one against South Sydney at the SCG. The Anzac Day game at Allianz Stadium alternates each year between being a Dragons and Sydney Roosters home game.
The Dragons' main venue deals end this season and while they will retain a base of fixtures in Wollongong and at Kogarah they are looking to shift away from ANZ Stadium ahead of the looming re-development of the venue into a world-class rectangular stadium.
That work is set to begin 2019 but as reported by Fairfax Media on Tuesday NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg is pushing for the start to be shifted forward amid continuing confusion about the breakdown of Sydney's $1.6 billion state government stadia funding.
The bid by Fiji to host games comes with the country also seeking to enter a team into a re-modelled Intrust Super Premiership next season. It is believed they have been set a deadline of October 31 to stump up a bank guarantee to the NSWRL in order to gain admission.
Fiji's hopes of replicating their 2013 World Cup semi-final appearance at this year's tournament, meanwhile, have also been boosted by Jarryd Hayne's confirmation this week that he will turn out for the Bati if he does not make Mal Meninga's Australian squad.
It's been great to play both for Australia and Fiji," Hayne said. "It's obviously up to the coach but I'm probably looking at Fiji at the moment given the amount of talent Australia's got."
smh.com.au
