Just do away with zones and acadamies. All it does is dilute the draft.
Reward clubs who promote the game thru acadamies with soft cap relief or something along those lines. Atually reward clubs for giving back to grass roots in a way where it does not corrupt the draft.
At the very least the bottom 4 or 6 clubs should have access to every available player in the draft every year. If one of your acadamy kids happens to be rated top 6 and your not a bottom 6 club tough luck.
The whole idea of the ND is to equalise the comp all i see is in particular clubs with great zones mainly northern clubs getting a leg up over every one else.
How do you feel about F/S?
Some out there are adamant this Academy BS is critical but I disagree. I'd F it off right away and only keep F/S on a new eligibility/sliding-scale discount scheme.