I still think the NRL sadly leave the country areas without much support.
My 5/7 year old grandsons play junior footy in Moree, they don't get one cent of assistance.
Bush footy is a joke these days, maybe not so in the bigger cities like Dubbo / Tamworth ( as an example) but go to country towns of 10,000 and less and compared to what it was like in the 60's -90's it's a shadow of its former self.
The CRL arrange for a few players to come out in the lead up to season kick off , but that's it.
I'm shocked to see that in my old home town soccer & AFL is now more popular with kids, FFS what's the world coming to!