Instead of creating a new platinum league above the NSW cup I have been thinking they should do the opposite and create a NSW second division below the state cup. This would basically supersede the Ron Massey cup as the third open age tier in the state and become the third grade for NSW/ACT. It would provide an open age development platform to hopefully keep NYC graduates in the game and on NRL pathways longer as well as improve pathways in key bush regions which will form the spine of the league. The league would be centrally funded via grants from the ARLC/NSWRL
I would keep the NSW cup as it is now except demand that Canberra participate instead of mounties and the wyong club be replaced by a central coast branded team so the 4 main provincial sides are all represented
-Warriors, Newcastle, Illawarra, Canberra, Central coast, Wenty, Penrith, Canterbury, Wests, Newtown, Manly, Norths
IMO the 2nd division or whatever it be called would be an 11 team league so that each NSW/ACT NRL club has an affiliate. It could look like the below and would use major regional cities as the core of the competition
-Wagga (Raiders)
-Dubbo (Bulldogs)
-Bathurst (panthers)
-Shellharbour (Dragons)
-Coffs Harbour (Knights)
-Tamworth (Manly)
-Wyong (Roosters)
-Wests Macarthur (Wests tigers)
-Wentworthville (Eels)
-North Syndey (souths)
-Newtown (Sharks)
The metro sides are up for debate, its probably a fair argument that the biggest juniors districts provide the most players to the pathways and should therefore have representation at this level. That would mean Penrith, Parra, Wests Tigers and Souths/Cronulla having their 3rd grade sides city based. Above I tried to keep consistency with the current pathways for Souths and the sharks but one of those clubs would likely need to be swapped for a Panthers linked metro side instead with the loser then linked to a regional team (Bathurst in this case)