This.
We all know that when Wigan had to fight relegation the old farts that run RL had a massive panic at the thought of a 'big club' going down, so they came up with licensing to make sure that what happened on the pitch had nothing to do with whether you were in SL or not. Some of us at the time called licensing for the crap idea it was.
Then the penny finally dropped with everyone that licensing was a stitch up, so they came up with the latest sophistry to pull the wool over everybody's eyes. It looks like P&R, but I'm willing to wager that no P&R will take place under this system.

IIRC they're proposing to play some U23 friendlies.

Bit different to running a full time U23 team over the duration of a league season, which would need an additional 10-15 players on top of the current first team and Academy squads.

I reckon it will, sooner or later. Bradford weren't a million miles away and we've seen in various cup ties that the top championship sides can manage the odd upset against lower SL opposition in a one-off game.

The current format is the hors d'oeuvres for the two FT tens, 4/5 Champ clubs will be FT in 2016 add in Toulouse, Welsh and Canada and you are virtually at the 20.

Close, but no cigar. I admire your optimism, but I still think the deck is stacked a bit too heavily.