spot on...and the NRL should bin any idea of adding a WA team to their East Coast klan.....

When London can generate a crowd of 20k like Perth can they can have a team. Until then stop wasting RL money and put it to good use developing the souths grass roots and not into a dead man walking Broncos.

London generates a one off crowd of 80,000 every year

Quote: Him "They are vital for player development. They provide a pathway to SL in the entire South of England. That their academy has weaknesses doesnt invalidate that fact. I'd imagine those weaknesses stem from a lack of funding. If the North East and the Midlands had a SL team nearby I'm sure we'd have seen players from there coming into SL.'" We have seen North Eastern SL players. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Thorman But generally the North East and Midlands has been playing RL for a shorter time than London. But even so there are a fair few Midlanders on the books of various SL sides. They just haven't made their debuts yet as they are too young.

Quote: Him "They are vital for player development. They provide a pathway to SL in the entire South of England. That their academy has weaknesses doesnt invalidate that fact. I'd imagine those weaknesses stem from a lack of funding. If the North East and the Midlands had a SL team nearby I'm sure we'd have seen players from there coming into SL.'" We have seen North Eastern SL players. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Thorman But generally the North East and Midlands has been playing RL for a shorter time than London. But even so there are a fair few Midlanders on the books of various SL sides. They just haven't made their debuts yet as they are too young.

The same as Cumbria then. And yet Cumbria has produced SL players.

Which regions are you comparing to? NE and Midlands as being a similar geographic distance to SL teams to Cumbria?
Or the South? What doesn't make sense there is your "and yet" statement, as the south has produced multiple SL players. If it's Cubria compared to the South, then there are some clear differences between Cumbria and the South (excluding Broncos):
Presence of semi pro teams for many years.
Past SL/top division presence.
Locality to SL heartlands - it's a lot nearer than the South.
Historic presence of RL.

I'm still not clear on which region you're comparing Cumbria to though, and the point you're making about it.