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No, I think it definitely has something to do with the rulebook. But it's not the biggest factor especially at the moment, and I don't think Australian tastes are completely unique. The rugby played at the 2007 world cup for example wasn't liked by the majority of rugby fans all over the world...

Will it be fully professional or semi-pro to begin with? And how long will it go for?

If the laws of the game were as big an impediment here as you think then rugby would never have had such a successful 2003 world cup, it wouldn't hold the Fox Sports TV ratings record, the Wallabies wouldn't have been so popular when they were at the top of the world, and the Brumbies, Waratahs...

Depends how you look at it. Expectations are so low and things are already so bad there's potentially a lot of upside. Do a good job turning things around for rugby and it'll stand out. If it continues to decline or stay at the same level, then no one's going to think it was your fault, the...

Would I be wrong to assume that Rugby WA isn't paying a cent for its legal representation? What about the ARU? Who would want to represent the bad guys pro bono?

Hans Sauer, President of Rugby WA with Alan Jones again: http://www.2gb.com/podcast/hans-sauer-2/ So the ARU are now only communicating with them through their lawyers.

I basically agree with this. I also think it could be beneficial if the ARU just focused on the Wallabies and the grassroots and left the domestic professional game to some independent body (representing the clubs) to run. Like how it works in England and France.

Leitch moved to Japan when he was 15, speaks the language fluently and is a Japanese citizen.

Interesting results. I suspect if this poll was put to a wider audience that there'd probably be a higher percentage of No's and Trans-Tasman votes, but given the people voting here will have read and thought about the arguments from all sides it's pretty telling that half of the votes have been...

I wonder about this too. All the FTA networks are struggling. You only have to look at their share price charts over the last several years. Their audiences and advertising revenues are shrinking, the younger the demographic the less FTA TV they watch. The networks have been willing to pay...

I've always thought there needs to be a major Australian sporting team called the Wombats.

Well the Waratahs could still exist, either as a representative side again or as they are now but with anywhere from 1-3 rivals in Sydney and probably another in Newcastle. I think there's a few different ways a national comp could be done and it depends on the goals of the competition. If...

There's no need to pull out of SANZAAR, just Super Rugby as it is or how NZ and SA seem to want it. Why stay in it when so few people care about it here and it doesn't give rugby any chance of competing with the other codes in this country, which all provide much greater geographic reach...

Well it's not the most important part haha. I'd actually originally put down 14 teams then decided it was probably too many and didn't think to change the number in the finals. But there's positives and negatives with either 4 or 6. A 5 team finals series could also be an option.

How about something like: Northern Beaches (perhaps with a 2nd home in the Central Coast?) North Sydney (including North Shore, Hills District, Ryde, Hornsby Shire) Western Sydney 'Sydney' (East/Inner West/Southern) Newcastle/Hunter 2 teams from Brisbane (North and South?) Gold Coast...

If that's your criteria then you'd be strongly against Super Rugby because it isn't close to earning a surplus. It's propped up greatly by income generated from test matches.

QH, great posts this morning, fully agree. Interested in your thoughts on what an ideal national competition and professional rugby structure would look like. For instance, how many teams and where? What would be the eligibility criteria for the Wallabies? How long would the season be...

Would it be that difficult to switch the Sunwolves with the 5th Australian team in the 15 team model? It'd be a pretty straight swap as they'd be in exactly the same conference and in pretty much the same time zone. And it would save some money in terms of travel. This would be preferable to...

That doesn't really follow. None of us know what the Rebels crowds would be if they had a few successful seasons as it's never happened. There's no reason to assume their ceiling is the same as the Storm's. One difference, for example, could be that there'd be thousands of existing rugby...

But that would mean they're getting the revenues too right? So the net cost to the ARU should be similar to a normal year and might actually be a little lower because they can probably pool some resources. Agreed but the way it's been cynically used as an 'opportunity' to cut one of our teams...