Draft will never work unless the NRL picks up all the funding for junior development. Clubs that develop good juniors will stop putting time and money into development if they don't get first crack at their juniors. I do believe we need to wait until the season ends before signings are made.
Clubs won't put money into development if they can't keep them. It defeats the purpose of developing them if other clubs get first crack. That is he big difference people are talking about. In the USA, where sporting drafts are prevalent, the players are developed by colleges who have no allegiance to the pro teams. They play their own comps and get their own funding. They are developing the players for their own reasons.
Footy clubs develop juniors through their own clubs and feeder comps so they can keep them. In the USA, where they have a draft in every sport I think, the junior players are developed by teams that know they will leave within 4 years.
It's a massive attitude difference and difference in development that quite frankly the NRL is incapable of implementing and the average fan does not want a bar of.