Agree totally, the smart thing financially is to builda comp on the east coast then slowly expand it if there trying to form another ARC. It sucks for the other states but it's still pointing the game in the right direction.
I use to think this, but do you really think the clubs can support further professionalism. The clubs move to professional structures has been shambolic. Most of them run on the smell of an oily rag. Players jump around clubs each season looking for the best deal and clubs go broke buying a team to try and keep up with the powerhouses.
I think replacing all the academies with trans-tasman U21/U22 competition based on the super rugby franchises, with the Australian teams funded jointly by the ARU and super rugby franchises, is far more viable and will build a better pool of talent.
This should be the goal of the ARU and NZRU once they can both afford to fund it.
It would also allow the 5 main club comps to continue their long standing traditions and remove the weight of professionalism off them. Would also allow for the introduction of new clubs from non-rugby area's as the big clubs would lose a lot of their talent to the U21 team meaning that the smaller clubs could now compete. Perfect example of this is a team like logan in brisbane, who field a team in reserve grade. The introduction of a higher tier would be the perfect time for them to make the move up to premier grade.
I'm sure there are similar example in NSW, Illawarra maybe?
