NRL officials plan to use State of Origin to grow the game in new markets around Australia and overseas, with Perth and even London possible venues after the new deal to play matches at the MCG in 2015 and 2018 expires.

After announcing after the last match in Melbourne in 2012 that an Origin would be played at a neutral venue every third season, the NRL confirmed on Monday that games would return to the Victorian capital next season and in 2018, but it now believes the matches have outgrown Etihad Stadium and its capacity of 53,000.

Brent Tate warms up at Wembley during the World Cup last year. Credit:Getty Images

NRL director of commercial and marketing Paul Kind said he was confident of attracting crowds of more than 70,000 at the MCG and believed the game was now as strong as it had been when a crowd of 87,161 set what is still the State of Origin attendance record at the venue in 1994.

"I was involved with the game in 1994 ... and the game had momentum, it was being talked about, it presented itself well, and I look at it now and I think we are back in a situation where all of those things are lining up for us again," Kind said.