Along with a friend of McCarthy's Rob Griffiths, they decided to use rugby league to encourage children to do well at school and also thought they may discover some playing talent.

McCarthy, who was vice-captain of the Ireland team in the 2013 World Cup, said the idea for The Full Blood Project came from a meeting upon his return Africa from with Nigel Scott and Tom Whitehead, who had been delivering volunteer projects in Fiji.

"The aim of the project is to deliver a sports program, which is primarily rugby league, to the kids out there. Once we get them engaged we want to try and educate them on social issues and obviously over there health is a big one. There is such a spread of malaria and stuff like that."

"Seeing photos of the team in the village we visited is probably the most excited I have ever been about something that I am not actually doing," McCarthy said. "We left a bit of money there for the coaches who we upskilled to carry on doing the rugby after we left and they bought a piece of land, levelled it out and made a field, so this year we raised some money for some multi-sport posts they can use for football as well as rugby league. The original goal was to give these kids an opportunity, whether they are rugby league players or sprinters, where they can get picked up and if we can show a video of a kid playing you never know but over the course of time it has slightly changed and the purpose of the project is to motivate them and show them the importance of education."

Well travelled: Dragons recruit Tyrone McCarthy plays for Hull Kingston Rovers against Wigan Warriors in the Super League last season. Credit:Gareth Copley

While playing for the Northern Pride in 2014, McCarthy worked as a development officer in schools and he scored the winning try in the Queensland Cup premiers' 32-28 defeat of Penrith in the inaugural State Championship final at ANZ Stadium.

The 27-year-old returned to England this season to join Hull KR and played in the Challenge Cup final at Wembley but a phone call from Demetriou told him there may be an opportunity at St George Illawarra and after speaking with former Warrington teammate Mike Cooper he decided to move to Wollongong. "Jason got in touch and said the Dragons were talking about me, and a few days later I spoke to Paul McGregor and then Coops followed up with a phone call just to tell me about the club and the opportunity," McCarthy said. "It was pretty late in the year but playing in the NRL was always an ambition."