I'm in agreement, I couldn't care less about signing Kiwis next season if we don't have a good finish. We can worry about that later - FFA doesn't give a shark about it, they want metrics. Metrics will come if we win. We win if we have good enough players. Patterson is not a good enough player.
There are a few Kiwis that would improve the team, and we can focus on signing/playing young Kiwis when our future isn't hanging by a thread, but for now they shouldn't take precedence over Australians - if there's an Aussie CDM better than Payne then sign him up. This sadly isn't a time for affectionate Kiwi sentiment