Originally Posted by
shasta
I'm pretty lukewarm on this idea. One of the biggest problems with the ARC was that there was no connection of the franchises with the traditional club supporters in Sydney and Brisbane. This will still be a problem, unless it's going to be simply an exercise of awarding "franchises'' to the powerful Sydney and Brisbane clubs (+ one from Sydney Subbies I'd imagine) and leaving the rest of the premier clubs in the country struggling.
I firmly believe the way forward should include second xv matches at conference matches. One of the criticisms of that idea has been that it doesn't provide enough matches - 8 plus two semis and a final. This provides even less, unless or until it expands.