I agree and have been saying for ages that successive coaches choosing Aussie state league players over locals was a mistake
I thought we'd established that part of the problem is that many top locals either don't want to go pro; or don't want to play for the Nix
I'm dubious it's that cut and dried, Rudan has said that players signed from nzfc need 12 months to get up to speed, but he clearly doesn't think that about Aussie state league players. That's also going to affect the type of contracts that are offers to kiwi players.
Ernie signed all manner of players from that level (or below) and very few from NZ national league. We've also had a number of our own academy players that have passed through without many opportunities
So I do think it's a historical thing that we don't really trust NZ players