can only help but feel that the power struggle among Football South/Mainland teams in this scenario would result in either one decent team from each area being in the league (i.e. Chch Utd or Southern) with the rest made up of NRFL and Central teams, or none at all. not enough talent/money being shared around
doesn't the talent all head to the academies in the big smoke these days anyway?
can only hope that changes. APFA bore fruit for a while and a satellite of a big academy down south could help (like WPFA/Onehunga)
for now, sending kids to Ole or the Nix gives more opportunity than keeping them in a subpar developmental environment, and I see no reason why that should stop as long as no quality South Island alternative exists. kids like Feutz (Ashburton) and Ebbinge (Q'town) are proof