However, no funds were advanced and it appeared the project, along with identifying Chinese athletes to play for the NRL clubs that had embraced Broughton's dream – the Panthers, Broncos and Sea Eagles – was finished. Adding to the chagrin of the man after whom the Titans' annual best and fairest player award is named, was Broughton's gazumping by the AFL last week. The AFL, in conjunction with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, announced a project to introduce a modified game of Australian rules to Shanghai schools as well as Port Adelaide playing an AFL competition match in the city next year. Should Broughton's plan finally come to fruition, he will be only the second former player or coach to seek to develop rugby league in the world's biggest nation. The captain of the 1921 Kangaroos, Les "Boxhead" Cubitt, a flashy centre from the Eastern Suburbs club, went to China hoping to bring a team to play in Australia in 1923, a vacant year in the international league calendar. Cubitt only played in four games on tour after injuring his knee. Forced to retire aged 28, he walked with a limp and the aid of a cane. But his travelling companion, Harry Millard, had commanded a Chinese Labour Battalion in France during World War I and, like Broughton, was impressed with the endurance and athleticism of the Chinese.

Despite being repeatedly told by Chinese consular officials in Melbourne and Wellington that rugby league was big in the Asian country, the pair soon discovered it was unknown, with the round-ball game being popular instead. Still, Cubitt did presumably import something from China – opium. Twelve months after arriving back in Australia, Cubitt was arrested in Townsville with the Queensland Times reporting on July 24, 1924: "Two young men, James Burns and Leslie Cubitt (the latter said to be the international footballer), were arrested in Townsville on Wednesday afternoon and charged with having a large quantity of cocaine, morphine, and other drugs in their possession, reasonably suspected to be stolen or otherwise unlawfully obtained." When the pair couldn't raise £100 bail, they were remanded for eight days in custody while the police arranged the brief of evidence against the not guilty pleas. On August 1, 1924, a magistrate, Mr Curtis, rejected a motion by police for a short adjournment to finish the brief, leading to the charges against Cubitt and Burns being dismissed. Cubitt returned to Sydney where he told the media, Chinese athletes were "better than Australians imagine". But rather than giving rugby league a shot, he settled on grass, taking up lawn bowls and becoming state champion and captain.

If this is one of the quirks of history, consider the way in which Melbourne rejoiced last week at the news the MCG could host the NRL grand final for three years, while ANZ Stadium at Homebush is rebuilt. '"Sydneysiders will be squirming," one breathless Melbourne radio host declared. The former chief executive of the NSWRL, John Quayle, spent years trying to get rugby league on the famous ground. "I'd repeatedly approach Dr John Lill, the chief executive of the MCC, to hire the MCG for a State of Origin match and each time he would give a polite, no," Quayle said. "I don't know what the problem was, whether the AFL was blocking it or not, but in desperation I contacted the Victorian Premier, Jeff Kennett. He called Dr Lill to a meeting and basically instructed him to let us play a State of Origin match on the ground. It drew a then Australian record crowd of 90,000. "Twenty five years ago, we couldn't get rugby league on the MCG. Now, they can't get enough of us. It's wonderful."