Quote: Wire Yed "I disagree, create a Northern and Southern hemi comp over time.
Long term plan.
I welcome it'"
I agree in general. We aren't going to get enough top players to be able to have quality domestic leagues in England, France, Wales, Canada, US etc on their own so follow the Union basic model of an elite league across the hemisphere. Then you can have 2nd tier French, Canadian, Welsh etc leagues underneath it as feeder leagues.
The same goes for down under. Get a PNG & Fijian team in the NRL. Maybe even eventually a South African team.
It gets those markets directly involved in top quality RL without having to pour hundreds of millions of pounds over decades into a country to develop a top domestic league. Which we can't afford anyway. So we get access to their TV and sponsorship markets plus we raise the profile of the game plus we open up access to development pathways for players from those countries so we also strengthen the international game.
But, crucially, we have to think it through AND give it time. Something RL is terrible at.