I have seen and studied the ARU Premier Rugby Review Belly is referring to. They quite clearly state in it that they feel premier rugby should be 1 grade and 1 colts sides.
They clearly want a 3rd tier comp, but arent prepared to determine which clubs are in or out of it. They state that quite a few clubs financial position is so critical at the moment, that at any given time up to 6 clubs could fall over immediately....yet they are not prepared to help.
They also stupidly compared match stats in Premier Rugby to that of Super Rugby. Where the Super Rugby match stats were higher than Premier Rugby they sang the praises of successful coaching programs at Super level. An example of this was in Super Rugby, the success rate for penalty conversions is higher than Premier. So they were very complimentary in the coaching of goal kickers at Super Rugby level. Then when the Premier comps were higher than Super Rugby, they criticised the professionalism of the opposing sides in Premier Rugby. Example being, there is more line-breaks and more tries scored in Premier Rugby than there is in Super Rugby (well duh!). Rather than say this came about because of the attacking focus of the Premier Rugby sides, they said it was because defensive sides in Premier Rugby aren't as well executed as they are in Super Rugby.
They talk about the possibility of introducing a salary cap in Shute Shield. Yet have no idea how to implement it, what it should be or how to police it. They spoke about how one club has an advantage over all others by being in a position to offer tertiary degrees to players joining that particular club and valued those at $500,000 per annum. Yet they say they would be reluctant to limit that as it's denying young people educational opportunities.
They compared the coaching programs, strength and conditioning programs, medical programs and gym facilities of all clubs. The outcome was that they will support those clubs with the resources they advocate rather than help other clubs achieve that level.
For me personally, they have got it all around backwards. It's clear, in Shute Shield there is a benchmark club. And good on them for achieving that. But rather than look to discover ways on how the governing body, the keeper of the game in this country, can help clubs below the benchmark achieve similar standards, thus raising the level of the competition, the level of the teams, the level of the individuals, ultimately benefitting the national interest, they are happy to just plod along, watch clubs die, and support the benchmark.
So I ask you all this.
What would happen if the NRL behaved like that?