DRAGONS forward Tyson Frizell says he would back moves to take NRL games abroad as Super League giants Wigan and Hull prepare to do battle in Wollongong on Saturday.
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The old rivals will fight it out for the Kenny-Sterling Shield at WIN Stadium in the first regular season Super League game played outside Europe.
Moves to take an NRL match abroad have been touted in the past, with the USA and Asia possible destinations, but are yet to come to fruition.
St George Illawarra floated the possibility of an international fixture in finalising it’s schedule for 2018 but ultimately decided to take their round 11 clash with Canberra to Mudgee.
Frizell said he would jump at the chance to take the game to a new international audience.
“I’m all for it. Preseason’s a long time, you’e doing a lot of training,” Frizell said.
“To break that up and maybe expand the game and play footy somewhere where rugby league is not as well known would only be good for us as players and also the game. It’s something to look at down the track.”
Including Test and Origin appearances, Frizell played 31 games in 2017 – for the most part carrying torn rib cartilage – and said player welfare would need to be taken into a account.
“It depends on the scheduling,” he said.
“You’d probably have to allow two weeks to travel back, depending on where the game is.
“If the scheduling was right, and player welfare was taken care of, I guess there wouldn’t be too much trouble with that.”