Cr Parker’s motion will go before the Dubbo Regional Council meeting on Monday night.

It calls for council’s Chief Executive Officer Michael McMahon to develop a ‘major sporting event attraction package’ that looks to target events including rounds of national sporting competitions from the A-League to the women’s NRL state of origin and matching involving national teams like the Australian Rugby Team playing a smaller nation.

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The NRL match between Canberra Raiders and St George Illawarra Dragons at Glen Willow in Mudgee attracted 9133 people. Another game is already promised for next year and NRL rounds will also be held in Wagga Wagga, Bathurst and Tamworth.

Group 11 has tried to attract NRL games to Dubbo. In May, Group 11 secretary Paul Loxley said he was disappointed to see Dubbo wasn’t on the list of locations to score a match in 2018.

“We have been trying to get games for years and we keep missing out. We thought we were close with Manly a few years ago and now we have missed out again,” Mr Loxley said at the time.

It’s expected council would have to chip out about $200,000 to bring an NRL match to the city. However, as part of the sporting event attraction package Cr Parker wants council to focus on commercial and promotional partnerships that limit council’s financial investment.

Cr Parker also wants council to look into attracting competitions that have been held in Dubbo in the past, such as the Athletics NSW Country Championships and NSW under 13/14 Cricket State Championships.

When the Athletics NSW Country Championships were held in Dubbo last year about 1500 people made the trip to the city for the three days.

If the councillor’s plan is approved on Monday night the draft major sporting event attraction package would be developed by December.