Perth definately would work. Good sponsors, would be well local supported imho. Just the spread of 1st grade players a bit thin, - 3 yr plan perhaps.
Western Reds weren’t a flop, just a victim of the times.
There is definitely an agenda to either discredit or influence a new franchise away from Perth.
Both Abdo and V’Landys made disparaging comments leading away from Perth and preferencing Eastern states or pacific island based teams (NZ, Fiji, PNG etc).
They criticized the 9’s tournament saying that the Friday night was a fail and a reason why a team wouldn’t work here in Perth.
They scheduled the games from mid afternoon and competing against a blockbuster Eagles game and the Perth Wildcats riding a huge winning streak on the same night!!!
Of course numbers were going to take a hit but still got around 10k attend for that Friday twilight season!
Same would have been the case in Melbourne or even Sydney.