The Dunedin-based side, who play some of their home games in the Forsyth Barr Stadium where the Lions played on Tuesday, are on the lower end of the scale when it comes to budgets.
"The top teams like Auckland City and Team Wellington win the equivalent of the Champions League every year and play in the Club World Cup," Ledwith says.
"They're excellent; Auckland especially is full of South American and Spanish players, it's hard to get near the ball.
"You don't get many nil-all draws. There was one earlier in the season and it was the first time in 10 years or something! It is a bit different from back home.
"Technically, the likes of Auckland City and Wellington would easily compete with the likes of Cork, Dundalk and Rovers, but other teams would struggle defensively. Paul has tried to put that in us a little bit.
"There was massive improvements made last year from what we hear, it was our first year but everyone around the city was full of praise for how well we'd done. But from our point of view it was a relatively poor season, not finishing higher."
(source)