And with the 4 'Kiwis' based in Aussie picked, especially those on Football Australia's radar. The awful recent record of Australian age group (U17 & U20) teams qualifying for World Cups - could be one reason with some of these guys have decided on NZ.
Even with an expanded 48 team WC (so presumably more slots for AFC teams), is no guarantee Australia will get to the U17 WC. These kids can always flip flop back to Australia later though, ie not cap tied. And because we now get to send a contingent of U17 boys annually to a WC (so basically double the previous number going to WCs), and all those valuable learnings, we shouldn't get too upset if some do flip flop back to Aussie.
Even with an expanded 48 team WC (so presumably more slots for AFC teams), is no guarantee Australia will get to the U17 WC. These kids can always flip flop back to Australia later though, ie not cap tied. And because we now get to send a contingent of U17 boys annually to a WC (so basically double the previous number going to WCs), and all those valuable learnings, we shouldn't get too upset if some do flip flop back to Aussie.