Collier is five months into t he specially-created role of chief executive of the Rugby League International Federation and told last week's two-day congress in Paris of his plans to spread the game to new corners of the world, including two more G20 countries.

"That's where we want to grow rugby league audiences," said Collier, who previously spent 10 years with the England and Wales Cricket Board and also worked for the International Cricket Council.

Rugby League England players pay respects to mark centenary of end of First World War 21/10/2018 AT 13:46

"At the moment we've got England, Australia and France but, if we want to broaden media audiences around the world, we've got to be significant in more G20 countries. Whether that is Argentina, Canada, Mexico, China, there's loads of opportunities.

"At the moment, USA and Canada are probably further down the line so we want them to become more and more established but it is a question of working through a plan with each of those national bodies that is meaningful to that nation."

After spending the first few months of his new job meeting and greeting representatives of the game around the world, Collier is confident that real progress can be made.

"For the first four to five months I was literally going round talking to people, understanding what they want and trying to build consensus, which I think has proved to be very valuable," he said.

"What was particularly pleasing in Paris was the unanimity around the table."

Collier's priority was to draw up an eight-year calendar guaranteeing an international window every autumn through to 2025 and to fill it with meaningful events.

The RLIF will be responsible for World Cups in 2021 and 2025, plus secondary events such as a World Nines Championship, in 2019 and 2023, which will leave the intervening years free for what Collier calls bi-lateral events, such as Test series between individual nations, Four Nations Series and a resumption of the Lions tours.

"T here is a bit of work for the countries to do now to populate their part of the calendar but I know there's already discussions going on, particularly with New Zealand, England and Australia as to what form that will take," Collier said.

"The reason we're now excited is that we can go ahead. We can go out to tender for the next eight years and we can go ahead with the appointment of the 2021 World Cup hosts which will be early next year. We're up and running."

By the end of his eight-year plan, Collier wants rugby league to be played in 70 countries with 20 million supporters world-wide, a doubling of the global television audience and a 16-nation World Cup in which half the teams have a realistic chance of reaching the final.

"If we want to be a major player on the world stage, the international game is where the sport gains its credibility," he said. "That it is why we want to strengthen the top eight so that the World Cup is even more competitive.

"In England two years ago we saw the USA getting through to the quarter-finals but I said in Paris I want to have eight nations competing in 2025 with a realistic chance of reaching the final. We want to strengthen the next grouping."

Bizarrely, one of the nations set for financial assistance will be New Zealand, who despite their new ranking of number one in the world, are struggling financially.

Unlike England and Australia, the Kiwis do not have a professional domestic competition from which to generate revenue and, because of the restrictive nature of the television deal, they will go two years without playing an international on home soil.

Collier added: "We want to make sure the strong remain strong but then we want to support the likes of the USA, Canada and France, while there is a real appetite to grow rugby league in Russia so we'll have a good look at that."

Rugby League Wigan stand by Zak Hardaker but tell full-back he has making up to do 19/10/2018 AT 11:10