KEY POINTS:
Ruben Wiki and Nigel Vagana - as well as Andrew Johns - have been invited to play for the All Golds against the Northern Unions in October.
Wiki and Vagana announced their international retirement after last year's Tri Nations grand final but the NZRL hope they will play in a game to mark rugby league's centenary. The All Golds game will be a recreation of the New Zealand rugby league tour of Great Britain in 1907.
Johns has long been touted as the player to replicate Dally Messenger's role in that 1907 game and the NZRL officially invited the former Australian and NSW great on Friday.
There has been speculation Johns will retire a the end of the NRL season, meaning the All Golds match could be his last competitive game.
"Having the status of players like that playing in a game to mark our centenary and the birth of international rugby league, and to mark the end of their [Wiki, Vagana and Johns] representative careers is a pretty good formula for us," NZRL general manager Peter Cordtz said. "Entice them one more time was the line we used on their letters."
The remainder of the tour of the UK will feature three tests between the Kiwis and Great Britain.
A SPECIAL general meeting will be held on March 3, delaying the annual general meeting by up to a month.
Districts and associations will be asked to vote on plans to change the constitution which, if accepted, will see the NZRL board expanded from six to nine members.
At present five, including the chairman, are elected by the members, with one appointed by the board.
The new structure would see six elected by the 15 districts and associations, including three who must be a chair of a district, and three appointed by the board. The board will also elect the chairman.
Acting NZRL chairman Andrew Chalmers said the recommendations had been made after a review by PricewaterhouseCoopers and said that it was "long overdue" and that it would provide a "more robust system".
Chalmers was confident the necessary two-thirds majority to implement the changes would be achieved.
He confirmed he would step down as both chairman and a director at the AGM, but it's widely expected he will throw his hat in the ring again for the top job.
Vice-chairman Peter Douglas is suspended but is eligible to stand again. Chalmers has consistently avoided discussing Douglas's situation, after he was suspended for a "serious breach" of conduct, but said it would be "tidied up" at the AGM.
The NZRL are also reviewing their competition's structure and hope to implement a calendar from 2008-2012.
Former Kiwis coach Graham Lowe heads the review and major changes could include the Bartercard Cup being played over summer and with a grand final on Waitangi Day.
A regular club season would still take place over winter, while the National Junior Competition could also be expanded.
A draft calendar is expected to be in place by May 15.
- HERALD ON SUNDAY
