“There will be five matches in regional locations of New South Wales, in four different centres: Bathurst, Gosford, Mudgee and Tamworth,” NRL CEO Todd Greenberg beamed to the media at the official release of the 2018 season draw in October last year. “There will also be three matches in regional Queensland through Cairns, Gladstone and Toowoomba.

“On top of that, the Charity Shield will also move to Mudgee. Fans in our regional locations will see far more footy up close than ever before. You’ll see the very best of the Telstra premiership all across Australia and New Zealand in 2018.”

Perth's new Optus Stadium. (Photo by Getty Images)

Inspired by the NRL’s ambitions of taking the game’s elite competition to all corners of the country, we wondered what a schedule might look like if you were to sit down and plan an itinerary to take in as many of these “outpost” games as you could?

An obvious starting point would be Perth, where a double-header featuring Souths taking on the Warriors and the Bulldogs hosting the Storm will be played at the brand new Optus Stadium on Saturday March 10.

Next, you might head to Toowoomba, where on Sunday, March 25 the Gold Coast Titans will be hosting the Dragons in Ben Hunt’s return to Queensland following his switch from the Broncos to the Red V.

After a couple of weeks’ saving your pennies back up, there’s a neat little tour through country NSW on offer for the most keen among you. Starting off in Tamworth (Saturday 21 April), where you’ll catch the Wests Tigers taking on Newcastle, you’ll then head to Bathurst for Penrith’s traditional match there. This year that happens on Friday, May 4. Sixteen days later (Sunday, 20 May) you could find yourself in Mudgee for the Dragons vs Raiders.

Glen Willow Regional Sports Stadium, Mudgee. (Photo by Getty Images)

Apart from Origin, the big blockbuster event in Brisbane this year will be the double-header (Saturday, 12 May) featuring the Storm hosting the Titans and Manly playing Brisbane in a throwback to the Broncos’ win over Manly in their first-ever match in the NSWRL premiership 30 years ago.

Meanwhile, if you haven’t been to Melbourne yet to watch a rugby league game, State of Origin I might be a good excuse to head south. Mate Against Mate happens there Wednesday, 6 June this year.

Saturday June 9 will also prove a big day for the league, with matches scheduled for Christchurch in New Zealand (Sea Eagles vs Warriors) and Darwin in the Top End (Parramatta vs North Queensland).

TIO Stadium in Darwin. (Photo by Getty Images)

A few weeks later, the Roosters return to Adelaide to take on the Melbourne Storm on Friday, 29 June. Cooper vs the Storm for the first time, anyone? After taking in the South Australian capital, you can shoot up to Cairns and catch the Bunnies vs Cows game on the Sunday of that weekend.

Speaking of North Queensland, as the season winds down, perhaps this would be the time to catch one of Thurston’s last games at Townsville's 1300 Smiles. There’s a match there on Thursday, August 9 against the Broncos. Apparently those match-ups go off like a frog …

Your year-long odyssey could end at the home of rugby league (fight me, Queenslanders) - ANZ Stadium in Sydney for the NRL Grand Final on Sunday, September 30. So there you go, 13 centres in seven months. That’s a lot of frequent flyer miles. Be sure to pack your fuel card, too.

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The Roosters return to Adelaide Oval in 2018. (Photo by Getty Images)