Dubbo Regional Council Manager of Events Kate Hague admitted the economic impact of the game was extraordinary.

"We had approximately 28 per cent of attendees who were from more than 150kms from Dubbo and we are estimating in that percentage around $2.4 million in economic value in the region for the weekend," she said.

"Of the people who came they were coming for the football and they were staying that one more probably two nights for the weekend and we've been speaking to the visitor information centre and the feedback is that Dubbo was booked out for accomodation for the weekend,"

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Ms Hague felt the economic value to the region was made more impressive is the fact the event was held during the school term and the nearest public holiday is weeks away.

"Particularly in May, it's not the long weekend or Easter which are high tourism weekends, it's a weekend in May a lot of people came not just for football but for the whole weekend so $2.4 million is an amazing feat," she said.

Importantly 15 local businesses had a chance to operate food and beverage facilities at the event which had saw over 10,800 pile into Apex Oval.

According to feedback, Ms Hague feels the carparking plan which saw the showground used as a hub before venturing to the oval worked well.

"From all accounts, it worked really well we had people park in the showground and walked across to Apex Oval and because we had them all colour coded we were directing people to right gates from there," she said.

"All the feedback we have been getting is people got to the right gates and it was a nice easy flow into the ground, there wasn't a huge queue of lines to get into the ground so it was a really great start from that perspective,"

Ms Hague also hinted her hopes of more spectators being allowed to attend the 2022 match the Rabbitohs will host in Dubbo.

"If we don't have any COVID restrictions next year, we'll certainly be having the complete full house and we hopefully we won't have to be doing zones and things like that so operationally it will be a lot easier as well." she said

Member for the Dubbo electorate Dugald Saunders says the government push to take rugby league to regional areas has been a success.

Mr Saunders, who is also chair of the NRL Regional Taskforce, said a total of $300,000 from the NSW Government's Regional Events Acceleration Fund had helped secure the Dubbo match, as well as April's clash between Manly and the Gold Coast in Mudgee.

"When I was appointed chair of the taskforce my main focus was to work with clubs and councils to bring the game back to the bush, and from a local perspective, the games in Mudgee and Dubbo have been a massive success," he said

"To see Apex Oval full of excited footy fans shows the concept is welcomed by the people of the region, and I know the weekend had a very positive impact for the business community as well.

"We had school visits through the week, a Chamber of Commerce event on Friday, a race meeting on Saturday and a greyhound meeting on Saturday night, which meant a full and busy schedule for the weekend."

In 2021 six games have been allocated to regional parts of NSW.

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