It's interesting as I've heard several people over recent years say Melbourne City are as good as a Championship team, and that the rest of the A-League is about League One. If Waine - who often looked better than most in the A-League, can't even make the bench (let alone get minutes), it might indicate City is more like League One level and rest of A-League is more like League Two level.
I think Ifill said that the A-League was a hard one to compare, he said the top players are absolutely top of championship or premier league quality, but some of the squad members are league two level and he's never seen such a big variety in a squad.
Other players have made comparisons and it comes down to squad size, composition, season length, and playing style makes it hard to compare.
Ultimately we've seen players who excel overseas come here and struggle and players who have struggled overseas come here and excel. We've also seen it go the otherway, with top A-League players going overseas and struggling and others excelling.
Playing style, squad composition and fit, etc. are all worth so much. Waine wasn't a starter here, he's not a starter there. It could be he's still trying to find the team fit, it could be that with a settled starting lineup and a high flying team the coach doesn't want to change much, it could be he just doesn't fit with the playing style, and it could be he's not good enough.
There's a lot of factors and it's pretty hard to compare two leagues just based on player movement.