It ticked all the rugby boxes but not the financial one. The teams were artificial but somehow, against all theory, it worked - at least, for me.
I was also at the opening game and went to every Sydney/Gosford game of the Rays - went to most Fleet games at the NSO too because they were handy. Saw all the TV games and all the others from (ahem) alternative sources that had no commentary - just the refs talking to each other. Loved it, just loved it, and I have no doubt I would be following the Rays through thick and thin now still if the ARC had survived.
It's odds on that the ARC in its old form won't be reprised; so now we are back to how it always was. In that context, in Sydney at least, I am all for the rise of powerful clubs who have the wherewithal to be outposts in the Greater Sydney area. Once an opponent of Sydney Uni and its perceived unfair advantages, I am all for it now. I have no qualms about Maloney tipping money into Southerns and attracting players there either.
Manly seen to be doing something right in their recruitment programme too and I wish there was a sugar daddy out west for Parramatta or Penrith and no doubt, so do they. If the ARC did not work as a national competition maybe one can be worked out involving strong clubs - which is what the old farts wanted all along. And they were right: the ARC the ARU came up with after the Genesis meeting could not be sustained.
We may not have another national competition for some time but one could see a case for getting one started up on the eastern seaboard with club teams that have the financial wherewithal to participate.
You couldn't involve Perth because of prohibitive travel and accommodation costs, but Melbourne and Canberra should have a team provided they can pay their way. I note the the Canberra Vikings used to play in the Sydney comp, then the Qld comp, then the Sydney comp again; so it can't be that hard.
In Sydney and Brisbane/Gold Coast, one could see a scenario whereby clubs have to qualify to be in the national comp and be subject to relegation. Clubs could be promoted to it also if they have the financial wherewithal.
I could pick holes in these suggestions as well as anybody and they flicked through my mind as I typed, especially weaker clubs being marginalised, but if we want a national comp and the other one didn't work, we have to do something different.
Or, maybe we are happy to have things how they are with no national competition. That is a valid consideration also.
