I've been thinking about the conferences and they seem quite out of balance with each other especially in the South Conference with Mainland and Southern Leagues. That travel distance for a combined South Conference seems silly and I would've thought this would burn through more cash and time per team than say expanding both Southern and Mainland Leagues to 10 or 12 teams and giving them their own conferences each.
Two potential ways National Championship qualification could happen with seperate Mainland and Southland Conference.
1) Mainland Conference gets 1 and 0.5 qualifying spots and Southland Conference will get 0.5 qualifying spot. Southland Conference champ can playoff with the 2nd placed Mainland Conference for the 2nd South Island National Championship rep (If people think Southern League is that crap then why not?).
2) Mainland and Southland Conference each get 1 qualifying spot
I still think the representaion from the South Island is crap with only 2 spots, hopefully for next expansion or the rebirth of the summer National League they can get 3 teams again.