To be fair, it kind of balances out considering we can sign kiwis and aussies as locals and no one else can.
just a quick squiz at population bases
Melbourne (4.1m), Sydney(4.6m), Brisbane(2m), Perth( 1.7m), Adelaide(1.2m) populations; amongst 7 teams = 1.94m per team
vs NZ (4.43m)
but hey, they nicked Smeltz, Rojas, Roux, Barbarouses
and they have a full Youth League and three more players
nah, you are not being fair
Mariners (?) and Newcastle (0.55m) I can maybe feel sorry for
Besides, this is football, who said it had to be fair? Ask the bottom half of the EPL. And everybody that bid against Quatar as a WC venue.
Go Ernie.
How about this
Queensland = 4.7m/1 team = 4.7m per team
NZ = 4.4m/1 = 4.4m
Victoria = 5.8m/2 = 2.9m
WA = 2.5m/1 = 2.5m
Australia = 22.7m/9 = 2.5m
NSW = 7.4m/4 = 1.85m
SA = 1.7m/1 = 1.7m
Man no wonder Brisbane Roar are storming the league ;-) If you want to use NZ's full population you have to at least use the whole state for the Australian teams. Just using the City Populations then you should do the same for Phoenix and have just Wellington = 200,000 (Deliberately excluding Porirua & Hutt Valley)