It’s hardly a tragedy.

You say it has a significant amateur domestic comp but the Wigan schools league is probably a higher standard.

You’d get on the USA team.

What gives you the right(or any of us) to call a proud country a joke? Their only fault is that they are a tiny country but they deserve respect. Oh by the way they qualified on merit!

In reply to the op, you would hope that something close to the blueprint that you mention is similar to the idea sold by, or sold to, Nigel Wood and really, it's depends on if it can be achieved and how it could be achieved.
The infrastructure, in terms of player development would be the key to success and whether this is actually possible and on what sort of timescale is the burning question.

There are certainly people over there with way more money to burn that we currently have in RL but, in theory why not.

Ironic that if the Toronto expansion is successful, in the very long term North America will end up as a rival to the NRL and SL

I bet some posters on here still believe in Father Christmas

It wouldn't be a "rival", it would be a third competition potentially creating two (Canada and USA) competitive international teams. In terms of number of top level athletes produced, the USA is the world leader, and if they knew about the game and understood the rules, tactics, etc then a team of college football players who didn't make it to the NFL or CFL would probably be better than any international RL side other than Australia.

It's all fanciful and pipe dream stuff, but it wouldn't be a bad thing at all if it actually somehow happened.