The Kiwis don't lose games against the Australians because New Zealanders are genetically inferior or not built for rugby league (au contraire!). The fortunes of international rugby league depend purely and simply on a single mathematical fact - the number of players playing week after week in a top class rugby league competition eligible for such or such country. This is what determines and hones:
(a) evolution of player skills by playing against quality opposition,
(b) team player depth (simple maths), and to a lesser extent
(c) team cohesion
This mathematical fact alone will mean the current ranking order at the top end of international league will not under any circumstances change in the foreseable future. Rare individual games will be won and lost, the rankings of minor nations may vary because they have fewer full time professionals, but the fans of league must face the fact that international league will never progress while the rank order is determined as such, much to the detriment of the game at this level.
The same is true in union and soccer but is less a determining factor because the nature of these sports produces tighter, more random games, especially in soccer but also in union mostly thanks to frequent penalties, drop goals and possibly a generally more defensive mindset. This does not exist in league. There is nowhere to hide if you are inferior on the field, you will be beaten and beaten well. You cannot kick your way back into a game.
The above obstacles must be overcome in one way or another in order for the game to go foward. The only possibilities I see are:
(a) creating professional leagues in other countries strong enough to prevent player drain to the NRL or the ESL and remain attractive compared to these two to be able to stand alone. Highly unlikely in the foreseable future, espeicially in Europe or in the Oceania region. Such a league in the US would take decades to get to an NRL/ESL standard and they would have to be offering NRL/ESL type money to reduce player drain.
(b) somehow increasing foreign participation in the ESL and NRL. Even with Pacific Islanders and Kiwis player percentages at all time highs in the NRL and to a lesser extent ESL, in proportion to "Australians" (or those that elect to play for Australia) it still remains too low to have any effect on their dominance on the international stage. In theory, if you wanted roughly equal teams with equal depth in the Oceania region you would need something like 20% AUS/NZ/TON/SAM/PNG player percentages in the NRL, and this with strict eligibility rules to prevent players switching to stronger teams. It's not going to happen. Whilst it is encouraging to see high quality players from Wales, France, PNG etc. playing in the ESL or NRL you only have to watch games with these national sides playing the big three to see that it is simply nowhere near enough to get these countries playing regular, competitive games.
The most effective way to increase foreign player participation in a league is to bring in a team from a foriegn country, ie. Catalans, Warriors & Crusaders. Unfortunately, economic forces combined with pressure/desire to retain historical clubs means incorporating foreign clubs into already established competitions is next to impossible, or at best very slow. Even with the Warriors now existing for 15 years and with a multitude of kiwis in other teams and in the ESL, NZ only seem to pull off rare rare victories over Australia. This gives you an idea of the how powerful the mathematical fact mentioned at the top of this post is - it is undeniable.
(c) Change the rules of the game to make results more random, scores tighter, or handicap teams. Highly unlikely, but undoubtably the easiest, by far the most cost effective way to change the rugby league world possibly for the better. The rules have been changed in the past, what would need to happen to provoke similar evolution in the game?
I'll state it again, as long as the above facts are true and player percentages remain in current proportions, we will always be here on LeagueUnlimited lamenting and winging about the state of the international game. For eternity.
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With regards to player percentages it would be extremely interesting to perform a case study on the evolution of State of Origin results as a function of the number of Queenslanders or NSWelshmen playing top class rugby league. Does anyone know where such information could be found?
