The rain may have kept people off the ground but it was clear everyone involved was fully committed to making the May 4 match one of the most successful fixtures in recent seasons.

"There was no coincidence that we brought the game to a rugby league town," said NRL Head of Football Todd Greenberg.

"This is heartland for us and we've tried to make tickets as affordable as we could in order to generate a great feel around the community and a good crowd and we're confident we'll get it right for May."

Greenberg announced tickets would start from $8 for a child and $40 for families and Country Rugby League chief executive Terry Quinn said making the match accessible to local fans would go along way to making the event a bigger success than when Dubbo last hosted the fixture in 2006.

"Last time we had 11,000 people here and I'm predicting a lot bigger crowd than that," he said.

"We're doing a whole advertising program right throughout the region and the ticket prices are very, very good so I think that will all help capture the imagination."

Greenberg said the large crowd at yesterday's launch was an early sign the right decision was made in bringing the match to Dubbo while Country coach Trent Barrett admitted he was hugely impressed by the facilities at Apex Oval.

"It's February and we've got a huge turnout here to simply talk about this event," said Greenberg.

"We've got to make sure we make it affordable and play it in areas where the local community will embrace the game and I think we're doing that here in Dubbo and we're very confident the players will have a great experience and the local community will get lots out of it."

"It's brilliant," Barrett said of Apex.

"It's not one of the best, it probably is the best country facility that we've seen and it's a credit to the community and the council and we'll make sure we put on a good show for them."