Australian rugby league legend Paul Broughton scouts for talent in China

An estimated 80,000 people will pack into ANZ Stadium in Sydney on Sunday as the North Queensland Cowboys and the Brisbane Broncos clash in the NRL grand final.

While all eyes will be fixed on the drama as it plays out on the field, at least one of those gathered will have his eyes set on the present, but his mind ticking over plans for the future of the game, especially in China.

Paul Broughton has over six decades of involvement in the game that started during a brief playing career with St George and Balmain in the 1950s, and then from the 1970s onward coaching at Balmain and then moving into the administration side of the sport.

Broughton was a driving force for the NRL's expansion with the Gold Coast Titans franchise - the club's yearly award for best player still bears his name - and for the past three years Broughton has been putting into place a plan that he hopes will one day see the game start to take root across China.

The motivation, Broughton says during a brief stopover in Hong Kong, is simple.

"Any game in Australia that doesn't expand into Asia has no future," says the 84-year-old. "What we are trying to do is build an awareness of our sport in China. At the moment we couldn't even find a word for 'rugby league' in China."

Hence Broughton and other representatives of the China Australia Sport Exchange have just been to the Shanghai University of Sport to scout three players he hopes to bring to Australia in the new year for tryouts with NRL clubs the Broncos, Penrith or Titans. The search is for young athletes in the school's rugby union set-up identified for possessing the skills and the size needed for a potential switch of codes and maybe even a contract.