Presently, and for the best part of 10-15 years, the talented kids coming up through WA get to a point where they need to choose union or League. Same as over east, I know, but in WA, there's one that has a professional team to aspire to and one that doesn't. Unless the talented kid is 100% devoted to League because they love it, the vast majority of the time, they choose union because of that direct pathway. Which of the two codes can you see played at a professional level in your home city every few weeks, gaining attention of schoolkids, ect, and which one has maybe one game in town once a year most years?
Everyone knows League is the much better product. Even union knows it. How many rule changes do they make that just happen to be ones League had already introduced? They're making their game closer to ours all the time.
All WA needs is an NRL team to a) provide direct pathways to homegrown talent, b) give incentive for the kids chasing their dreams of being a professional sports star to choose / stay with League, and c) to gain the attention of the schoolkids for future generations. Given a choice between SuperRugby and NRL, most, rightly, would choose League given it's the superior product.
The situation around the Western Reds fluffed that first opportunity. The Reds would have been 28 years old next year and would be an ingrained part of the Perth lifestyle well before now.
When the Western Force got booted, that was the next window of opportunity to re-launch the NRL in WA. Loads of disgruntled Force supporters and union juniors would have jumped ship to League. That golden opportunity was also fluffed.