Rugby league is deeply entrenched in the old school. Here in Aotearoa and especially in Australia, rugby league is a sport that pushes boundaries in terms of performance but has its feet stuck in the mud. History and traditions must be respected, so I'm not surprised that the 'Whole Of Game Strategy' or 'Blueprint For The Future' plan designed Shane Richardson (Head Of Game Strategy and Development) was met with some angst.

I'm finding it hard to view any recommendations from Richardson as negative and am pleased that someone has finally taken a broad look at rugby league, without the desire to earn more broadcasting money tainting their perception for example. Here's some 'key recommendations from NRL.com

- Increasing the size of NRL squads to 36 players – including six rookies

- Restricting players from making their NRL debuts until the year they turn 19. No player to be signed with an agent until he is 17 - and contracts for these players should be for a maximum three-year term

- Restructuring the National Youth Competition into a state-based under-20 competition

- Introducing rookie contracts for the start of the 2018 season with each club allowed to sign three rookies each year on two-year contracts

- Revamping and upgrading the State League into a Platinum League to spread the footprint of the competition into all the areas that play Rugby League

- Easing player welfare by considering additional leave, creating a formal International window over an eight-year period and reducing the number of five-day turnarounds

The main gripe that people seem to have or the recommendation that has received the most attention is changing the contract structure for teenagers. This starts with scrapping the National Youth Competition and then putting an age limit on contract earnings and playing in the NRL. A lot of this has come because of the unfortunate deaths of far too many young rugby league players who were thrust into the realities of the NRL despite only playing Under-20s and I believe that these recommendations are a direct result of this issue.

What the Under-20s competition did do was offer young rugby/rugby league players a chance to get a taste of professional sport and put them on telly (which is good and bad). The line rolled out by those questioning these recommendations was that this would see young players lured to other sports as they will be able to get closer to their professional dream quicker.

This is precisely what rugby league has already done. Take the NZ Warriors for example who have consistently signed 1st 15 rugby players into their Under-20s team, offering them what rugby can't offer them: Konrad Hurrell, Ngani Laumape, Ngataua Hukatai, Dylan Collier, Omar Slaimankhel, Albert Vete just to name a few. These sorts of players can still play what will be the new Under-20s comp, it just won't have the same allure.

I view this as the playing field being leveled out, especially in Aotearoa. While rugby league may be giving up that advantage; they've had a good run and must now recruit/develop players from a more level playing field. These recommendations will change nothing with the plethora of kiwi teenagers who are scouted, recruited and shipped over to Australian clubs. In case you've been living under a rock - NRL clubs send scouts to every schoolboy rugby tournament and every schoolboy rugby league tournament in Aotearoa and you'd be amazed by the number of kids who join Australian clubs.

Australian clubs will still take kids across the ditch, put them in their systems and develop them to the point where they are either good enough to make the NRL or they aren't. No worries there as this won't hinder the opportunities for young kiwis to chase their NRL dreams. A proposed two-week rookie transfer window will also make things interesting and this could become a feeding frenzy for NRL clubs chasing the next kiwi gun.

The Warriors are likely to join in on the New South Wales state-based Under-20s competition, which won't change too much. The Warriors are also expected to have their reserve grade team in the recommended 'Platinum League' which has also drawn criticism from NSWRL and a few clubs. I understand that a Platinum League could break up the current structure of the NSW Cup, where clubs like Newtown in Sydney have plenty of history but I can't help but think how exciting it would be to have a reserve grade competition with teams from Sydney, Aotearoa, the Pacific and apparently anywhere else in the world.

Key thing from a kiwi perspective is 'teams' #Plural. There's a possibility that there could be two teams in this Platinum League from Aotearoa, which is the perfect opportunity for the much-hyped Wellington NRL bid to actually take some baby steps instead of shooting for the jugular. Who knows how the Platinum League might end up looking, two kiwi teams would be ideal and it would also help offer kiwi rugby league players the chance to play on the fringes of the NRL without having to much across the ditch. Given how many kiwis do the rounds in reserve grade, you could easily fill two kiwi teams.

What excites me the most about all of this though is the view to expansion, which is where I think a lot of the old school thinking drags rugby league back. The Platinum League, including teams from the Pacific and Aotearoa is a small step in expanding rugby league's reach while a proposed international window is a huge leap in rugby league expansion. For far too long international rugby league has been brushed aside because Australians want to make more money, so it's about time that international rugby league was given its own little shrine.

This won't change fixtures between the big nations too much. I do however see this as a great chance for the Kiwis and Kangaroos to tour the world and spread the rugby league gospel in countries who have already shown signs of love for rugby league. America is the big frontier that everyone wants to conquer, but if there's an international window putting every international rugby league team in contention to play games then what's stopping the Kiwis from touring Europe or Asia, where they would combine goodwill opportunities with games against minnows. Instead of taking a young squad to England like they did this year, a young squad could be taken to play France, Italy, Scotland etc.

I'm sick of the NRL, Kangaroos and ARL leading the way and making all the boss moves which when the Kiwis are the best team in the world feels weird. The Kiwis and NZRL should see this as a great opportunity to use their responsibility as the best team in the world to step outside of the norm and take the game to new horizons. The Kangaroos will go chasing the money, leaving the door open for the Kiwis to spread good vibes, even if that means hosting tournaments instead of touring.

What Shane Richardson's recommendations offer is some sort of plan of how we are going to take rugby league into the future and take it further. Broadcasters or NRL clubs can't be relied to offer this perspective as they have ulterior motives, so to have Richardson take a look at rugby league with an educated but broad perspective is intriguing.

My general kiwi vibe has me excited, mainly because Aotearoa has been recognised as the rugby league breeding ground that it is. While it's not much, Richardson has at least taken into account the future of rugby league in Aotearoa, the Pacific and around the world which is a lot more than many others would have done.

Vive la rugby league.