What was once a dream of every local league fan could be about to become a reality.

The NRL’s decision to go bush with up to eight premiership clashes a year has put the City of Good Sports in pole position to host a game.

The NRL has long paid lip service to the notion of taking the game to the fans.

But for too long, league administrators have been spectators while the AFL won the hearts of minds of sporting fans in rugby league heartlands like the Riverina.

The NRL is finally putting its money where its mouth is.

From 2018, Wagga has a golden opportunity to host an annual premiership match.

We can certainly mount a compelling case for one.

The Riverina has traditionally been the nursery of champions, boasting such greats as Peter Sterling, Laurie Daley and the Mortimer brothers.

The sport also has a massive fan base here, as May’s wildly successful City versus Country clash showed.

The economic benefits of an annual NRL match would be profound, tipping in millions of dollars to the local economy and showcasing Wagga to the nation.

But just because we deserve a match doesn’t mean we’ll get one.

The city’s leaders must make Wagga an irresistible proposition for NRL bosses.

You better believe Albury, Griffith and West Wyalong will be clamouring for the same game.

Being the largest inland city in NSW is not worth a jot if we don’t have the facilities to host a match.

An upgrade of Robertson Oval’s lighting to make it TV-friendly is the missing piece of the puzzle.

The upgrade won’t come cheap, costed at about $1 million.

But we would get plenty of bang for our buck, potentially luring both NRL matches and pre-season AFL games.

Wagga City Council, forced to juggle competing fiscal pressures, must build a business case for improved lighting and then take it to the ratepayers.

Most would agree it’s money well spent.