A league test was pencilled in for Carisbrook in 1998 but eventually fell through.
Wayne Morris, a Dunedin GP, was on the board of the New Zealand Rugby League at the time and was a keen supporter of having a test in Dunedin.
The board had its annual meeting in Dunedin in February 1998, after which news emerged a test between the Kiwis and the Kangaroos was set to be played later that year, on October 9, at Carisbrook.
The NZRL was right in behind the plan, Morris recalled yesterday.
The Otago Rugby Football Union, which owned Carisbrook, had also lent its support.
All that was needed was the thumbs-up from the National Rugby League and other Australian league figures, and it would be a reality.
Morris said, with an Anzac test played at North Harbour Stadium earlier that year, it appeared to come down to a straight choice between Carisbrook and Ericsson (now Mt Smart) Stadium.
He said a lot of work went into getting the 1998 test to Carisbrook, but in the end, nothing could be agreed.
''There was a lot of complicating factors around. You had to get the Australian administrators to agree. But we worked hard to get it down here,'' Morris said.
Then-Kiwis coach Frank Endacott was a supporter of league in the South Island, but he wanted to play the game in the North Island.
With the Australian league finals not finishing until late September, getting the players to Dunedin was seen as impractical.
In the end, Morris said it was too hard, and the test on October 9 was played in Brisbane, in front of a measly crowd of just over 18,000.
The Australians won, and the following week were much too good for the Kiwis, winning 36-16 at North Harbour Stadium.
Both other hosting contenders - Carisbrook and Ericsson Stadium - had missed out.
In 1998, both the Otago rugby and netball teams won national titles, the year the province was celebrating its 150th birthday.
Morris said it was a great opportunity to get a test in Dunedin, but it did not quite get there.
About the same time, there was talk the Warriors would play in Dunedin but, again, nothing came to fruition.
The Warriors have played a pre-season game in Dunedin in each of the last two seasons.
Now, after an 86-year gap and a false start in 1998, the Kiwis are coming back.
