0
relax the foreign player rule, either allow the new side to pick 10 foreign players or allow the exisisting sides to pick 3 or 4.
Yes it will be counterproductive in a player depth sense for the first few years, but in the long term a 5th side will only open up more opportunities. Rugby Union still loses dozens of good quality schoolboy players to the NRL every year, so its obvious that there is the junior depth to support more teams its just that there arent enough pathways for them to follow.
People originally said Australia didnt have enough depth to support 4 teams, in one sense they are 100% correct, Australia didnt have the depth of S14 ready and experienced players. But I still think we had the talent for a 4th team, as is starting to show now, all aussie sides are bringing through some great young quality players, and all Aussie side are now quite competetive.
Even if you completely disregard the player depth issue and just focus on the economics of the 5th team, its fantastic, it provides exposure in Australias 2nd largest city and Australias 2nd largest state.
IMO if a 5th team is created, they should do the following:
-provide funding for the first 5 years of a expanded junior academy
-allow 10 foreign players in the side(reduced by 2 every year)
-provide funding to allow a junior melbourne side to play in the Sydney comp or QLD comp
Yeah the other Australian sides will still be hit hard in the recruitment stakes, but it only works out to about 5 players from every province, which is the natural turnover of most clubs anyway.