Ideally we wouldnt be messing around with this PNG non-sense and Christchurch would be 19, but it looks like they are going to have to battle for 20. Depending on if NRL announce all 3 now or hang off could impact their battle with Easts. If NRL waits 5 or 6 years to announce club 20 there may have been enough breathing space for Dolphins for Easts to be in serious contention again and for NZ2 to miss out. I hope not.
You raise two good points.
Firstly - Yes, as it stands teams 18, 19 & 20 SHOULD be Perth, NZ 2 (likely Christchurch) & Brisbane. I'd love it if team 20 was Adelaide or even NZ 3, BUT a) Adelaide hasn't had any of the prep work that Perth has had & b) NZ 3 soon after NZ 2 might be pushing it.
PNG, Fiji, or anywhere else in the Pacific Islands will need subsidies - and probably pretty hefty ones. Then you get to issues around security, infrastructure & plain old disposable income and it really unravels.
Secondly - yeah, timing for team 20 is going to make a huge difference. The further away it is, the better it looks for Brisbane 3, as the Dolphins-Broncos-Titans dynamic would have had longer to "bed in".
