The truth of the matter is, the NRL doesn't care about the NYC. When it was first pitched, it seemed like the idea had legs and would provide the competition with a more consistent approach to junior development. However, it was clear early on there were problems and tweaks had to be made to ensure it's future. Instead of making these changes, the NRL usually used the NYC as a guinea pig to test ideas that they would never end up using, even though the experiments showed potential (on-field challenge system being a good example).
The only change that was made was banning any under 18 year olds from playing first grade. That was a smart move but why did it have to stop there? Why didn't the NRL considering increasing the age to 21 so teams weren't constantly going through cycles? Why did it take so long for their official website to keep track of stats? Why did a bunch of fans have to put together websites to keep track of the competition so others could have some sense of what was going on? The coverage was borderline non-existent and only Sky Sports showed any nous by broadcasting every Warriors NYC game on their station. What could have been extra incentive to get fans to the game was completely lost in favour of...?
The worst casualty was the NSW Cup. By introducing a new competition and devoting all these resources to a new competition, clubs had to cut corners in other departments. The NSW Cup being one of them, and the way clubs had to scrimp and save (even having forced mergers with other NRL clubs) just to field a side was insanity. The situation has improved over time as clubs have been able to adjust, but it just makes you wonder how many young talented players gave the game up because they took one look at this grade and thought better of it.
