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By Tim Barrow, Illawarra Mercury - In the far-flung rugby league outpost of Western Australia, the torch still burns for a return to the NRL. The Western Reds have risen from the ashes of the Super League war to return to the NSW Rugby League third-tier competition, but Reds director Richard Campbell is adamant it is a stepping stone to bigger things.

So too, according to Campbell, is the NRL trial game between St George Illawarra and Sydney Roosters at Perth's Members Equity Stadium on February 14.

While Dragons fans in the Illawarra are scratching their heads why the Red V will be playing on the other side of the country, Campbell said the game meant more than just a trial to those in the west.

The clash will be the first NRL game played in Western Australia since 2004 and will be played 12 years after the Reds played in the Super League competition.

"The whole process is around our aim to get the side back into the NRL by 2012 or 2013," Campbell said.

The Western Australian Rugby League is hoping for a crowd of about 12,000 people for the Dragons-Roosters game, after attracting more than 22,000 to their two trial games in 2004.

The participation rate has grown by between 15 and 25 per cent in different age groups since the Reds were welcomed into the NSWRL.

While the Reds won just a handful of games, the team featured more than 60 per cent of home-grown players.

But even with renewed interest in the game, mainly from fans who have relocated from the east, Campbell is under no illusion about the enormity of the task.

Western Australia is firmly entrenched in AFL's corner, with the massive followings of the West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Dockers, and Super 14 rugby's Western Force also now well established. And Campbell admits it has taken time to recover from the Reds' exit after three years in the spotlight from 1995.

"Really, in 1999, the whole place fell over," Campbell said. "The players, the game, the media all left Western Australia and AFL just continued to push and push to control the market.

"When (rugby league) left it wasn't just losing a team when the war was over, it was the whole structure of the game here. But we've worked really hard to turn things around and find our place in the market since then."

Campbell says the star quality in both clubs will provide a massive boost for league in Western Australia.

"Having St George Illawarra and Wayne Bennett here will be great, his profile is quite strong here," Campbell said. "As is Freddy (Roosters coach) Fittler's and it's certainly a step in the right direction."