REPRESENTATIVES of international rugby league will be asked to press ahead with plans to expand the World Club Challenge and stage it in Australia.

Clubs from both the NRL and Super League have agreed in principle to the proposals and the International Federation are expected to ratify them at a meeting in Leeds this week.

The annual challenge match will be held in England for the 13th consecutive year when Melbourne Storm and Leeds meet at Headingley on Saturday morning (AEDT) but next year it is set to be held in Australia while in 2015 it could be enlarged to take in six teams.

The idea has been mooted for several years but, under Leeds chief executive Gary Hetherington, it appears to be gathering momentum.

"It's all meant to integrate with the international calendar,'' Hetherington said.

"If there's an international tournament in one hemisphere, then the World Club Challenge will be in the other.

"Down the track, we see this becoming a valuable TV commodity and hopefully a vehicle for promoting rugby league in new markets, such as Dubai or Hong Kong.''

Australia last hosted the challenge in 1994 when Wigan beat Brisbane at Lang Park.

Expanding the competition to six teams in 2015 would make it 18 years for the concept to have recovered from the disastrously lopsided 1997 competition.

The timing of the competition may still be an issue, with the NRL starting a month after Super League, and Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy would like to see it revert to a season-ending slot.

"I don't know what would be the ideal timing, probably two weeks after the grand final,'' he said.

"The grand finals are basically on the same weekend now.

"There's obviously reasons why it's at this time of year but for us it's quite disruptive.

"There's the long travel and different conditions and it probably takes out two weeks of our pre-season training.

"It's not ideal but we're here, we've brought our best squad available and we're going to give it a good shot.''

After spending four days in London, Melbourne moved up to their Leeds base this weekend and several players, including former Wigan duo Brett Finch and Ryan Hoffman, took in yesterday's Super League game between Huddersfield and the Warriors.

Bellamy will put his squad through an opposed training session with Halifax tomorrow, which will take Storm's England international Gareth Widdop back to his roots.

"It's really exciting,'' Widdop said. "It won't feel real until I get there.

"It's where I grew up, where my league started as a kid, and to go back there and have a training session at the Shay will be a thrill."