St George Illawarra are exploring the possibility of playing one home game overseas next season.
The club have abandoned ANZ Stadium as a home ground after the Dragons announced they had conducted a review of their ‘right game, right venue’ strategy.
The club will play five home games each at Jubilee Oval, Kogarah and WIN Stadium, Wollongong in 2018, as well as host the traditional ANZAC Day clash with the Sydney Roosters at Allianz Stadium, Moore Park.
That leaves a 12th regular season home match, with the club looking into playing it in a “different market” in Australia or potentially overseas.
The Dragons said in a statement that the club’s board of directors had considered a number of factors in making the decision including the “expiration of current venue hire agreements and new agreements moving forward, proposed investment by the NSW State Government into major Sydney stadia and associated construction timelines, review of the 'Right Game Right Venue' strategy for the period 2014 to 2017 and club venue strategy.”
"The Dragons support the proposed investment by the NSW State Government into Sydney's major venues to create a world class stadia network,” Dragons CEO Peter Doust said.
"However, with continued uncertainty around construction priorities and timelines, we wanted to ensure that our members, partners and fans have certainty over our home venue structure for the 2018 season.
“To balance the cost base of playing additional games at traditional venues, the Dragons will be looking to take one home game to another market in 2018 and we have been exploring opportunities across Australia and internationally, that support our brand and business development objectives.
"We are close to finalising an arrangement and will announce as soon as possible."
The Dragons won four out of their five matches at Kogarah last season but lost half of their home games at Wollongong (two wins, two losses) and ANZ Stadium (one win, one loss).
St George Illawarra lost their only home match at the SCG against South Sydney.