mattnz wrote:
Christchurch isn't a tiny town, is roughly the same size as Newcastle and Canberra but has better weather than Canberra. For playing professional league, I would rather be in a reasonable climate, instead of playing in 30-40 degree heat with high humidity
I'm very familiar with Christchurch given I have family there.
Canberra of course has players lining up to sign there lol. There's a reason they have done a lot of recruitment from the UK.
Let's of course also ignore the majority of the comp.
Fact is, as we see in migration numbers, few Australians want to move to New Zealand, and of course, the same is not true the other way.
How many Australian players are going to want to move to Christchurch, to a colder climate, smaller city, different country, away from friends and family, to a club with nothing going for it?
We already have the Warriors, in a much bigger city (literally ranked among the top few most liveable cities in the world) who struggle to lure Australian talent without overpaying them, or taking flyers on guys who aren't getting a shot. The Warriors are in a much better position to sign players than Christchurch would be.
Meanwhile, the grass roots systems and pathways in New Zealand are horrible, and the Warriors have struggled to produce many star players of their own over the last decade, so how is a second going to fare?
There's a giant difference between getting good Australian league talent to go from Sydney or Queensland to Christchurch, vs getting a Union player in New Zealand to move elsewhere in New Zealand to play for a franchise that churns out more elite Rugby players than anywhere on earth. The Crusaders are a privilege any union player would want to play for, a Christchurch league team would be a last resort or cash grab for any league player.