The Bulldogs detailed a long-term partnership with the North Coast rugby league region in early August that will see them have a presence outside Sydney.

With the NRL counterparts Gold Coast Titans covering the Northern Rivers region, the Bulldogs hope to “Bulldogify” the area from Forster to Grafton.

As a result, the East Coast Dolphins are anticipated to be known as the North Coast Bulldogs in next year’s representative fixtures.

“Next year in the under-16s, under-18s, under-23s and ladies competitions we won’t be the East Coast Dolphins, we’ll be the North Coast Bulldogs,” Bridge said.

“It’s more of benefit for our representative program and our juniors, but it will help coaching and development.”

It is believed the NRL club will provide some funding to rugby league in the North Coast region while also providing pathways into the National Rugby League.

The Bulldogs have mentioned they want to grow their brand from being Sydney-centric.

“They want to get it out there, so I’d like to think (what they’re doing) would be the way to do it,” Bridge said.

“Hopefully they bring up some coaches to do coaching clinics and run coaching courses for some of our coaches.”

The partnership is expected to come into play from November 1.

While club chief executive Andrew Hill wouldn’t put a time frame as to how long it would last, he assured the Bulldogs were here for the long run.

“In partnership with the Country Rugby League, it’s the chance for us to promote, profligate, educate and improve all aspects of the game in this region,” he said.

“Canterbury is a big club and a big brand and we feel that we’re in a strong position to grow the game.”

Mr Hill said the first step for the Bulldogs is to ensure that it’s a true partnership.

“It’s not just a relationship between the Country Rugby League and the Bulldogs,” he said.

“This has to be an effective partnership between all stakeholders – junior and senior clubs, councils and schools.

"From a club point of view we think there’ll be a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) between us and the region.

“This will clearly articulate the responsibilities we have to the district and ultimately if we do the right thing we will have systems in place to identify talented players.

“But this isn’t about solely looking at the best kids and getting them ready for Sydney, this is an NRL club understanding that we have a broader responsibility to the game.”

Country Rugby League operations manager Bert Lowry admitted the CRL had been attempting to partner all regions with NRL clubs.

“We’re trying to set up partnerships with our teams involved in the Andrew Johns Cup (under 16s) and Laurie Daley Cup (under 18s),” he said

“One of the main drivers behind that is to put the program in place locally which will mean kids don’t have to go to Sydney when they’re 14 or 15.

“The whole aim is to try and get a quality program in place and we need the NRL expertise in that.

“The CRL doesn’t have the resources or the expertise or the necessary funding where an NRL club will.

“That’s where it all kicked off and from there it branches off into sport trainer assistance, assistance for coaches, administration assistance – all of that.’’