My personal view:
NZFC is an amateur competition [if in name only] and has to remain so for the Phoenix to use the excuse that there is no professional league for them to play in, in NZ.
If the NZFC was officially deemed to be a professional or semi-professional league, our players participating in it would not be eligible to play college football in the US. In fact, if the NCAA decided to take a real close look at the status of the NZFC, they would deem it to be non-amateur and our players ineligible to play at an US college.
Australia will do exactly what the Asian Confederation says and should not expect otherwise. At this time, the best scenario on offer from Asia is that the Nix will be limited to the same player restrictions as other A League clubs and that will affect the number of Kiwis [if any] that get to play for the Phoenix.
NZ�s players best pathways to pro football is through the US College system but that doesn�t suit everyone nor can everyone qualify to do that.
Should the quota system change for the Nix, young Kiwi players should move to Australia and play in Australia and gain Australian citizenship and qualify as an �Aussie� for the purposes of participating in the A League.
This last part is reliant on Australia allowing it to happen but we should push to have 3 NZ teams in the A League [ Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch]. Operating under the A league quota system [not the one the Nix currently enjoy] there would be more opportunities than the 1 [with the Nix] for Kiwis to play pro football in the A League.
Those 3 clubs need to have teams play in the youth league in Australia and should perhaps have them based in Australia for the citizenship reasons outlined previously.
Additionally they should own/connect with Australian clubs and run academies or locate young kiwi players at those clubs for the same citizenship reasons already outlined.
Just looking at that last scenario; should a top prospect emerge at a young age they should be able to be slotted into the A League side or youth side under the quota system [cream rises to the top]. If we look at Costa for example, it is almost 3 years since he joined the Nix and hasn�t cemented an A League place. If he had been living in Australia for that time he would be close to gaining his Aussie citizenship and therefore free to play at the Nix as an Aussie or at any other A League club. Let�s face it, he�s not going to be picked up by any other A League club at the moment is he?

Bloody hell Blue I thought the landlord was going to say the old bloke had been dead for 30 years and his ghost had bought you the drink! 
