This week saw 19 clubs deliver their submissions to Red Hall, all hoping for a slice of the top flight pie in 2009.
The 12 incumbents are favourites to fill the bulk of the places, although Castleford and Wakefield both have some work to do on their stadia plans if they are to gain automatic acceptance.
Presuming a 14-team competition does finally come to pass, that leaves two spots to be divided between Salford, Widnes, Halifax, Featherstone, Leigh, Toulouse and Celtic Crusaders.
Ah, Celtic Crusaders.
With my buttocks still numb from a 10-hour round trip to wet, misty Bridgend on Saturday, I will admit I am not particularly well disposed towards our Welsh friends.
The welcome in the Valleys was warm, at least once you found the Brewery 'Paddy' Field and fought your way past the jobsworth steward who seemed intent on keeping Celtic's already measly crowds at a bare minimum by denying as many people as possible access to the car park.
But in all seriousness, if Celtic's application is successful this time round, it will be a triumph of ambition over common sense.
The Crusaders have a fine football team, there is little doubt about that.
They may be as green and gold as the Kangaroos - John Dixon fielded 10 Australians in his starting line up and another two on the bench on Saturday night - but they can play a bit.
They also have a backer with pockets as deep as the defunct Rhondda mines in Leighton Samuel.
A glance round the sparsely populated sponsors' lounge, and the even more sparsely populated terraces - even allowing for a generous smattering of Fax supporters - was enough to suggest that Celtic aren't paying the lucrative deals that lured the likes of Neil Budworth and former Queensland centre Josh Hannay on the back of their gate receipts.
When you get past the money and the team though, there doesn't seem to be a lot left.
The ground is hardly top flight standard, although a move, either to Cardiff or a purpose-built arena on the outskirts of Bridgend remains a possibility; the gates are appalling; and the channels for producing home grown talent seem light years behind the game's heartland clubs.
Let me make something clear: I am not against having a top flight club in Wales.
But it has to be in the right place, at the right time, and built on solid, sustainable foundations.
Giving Celtic a 2009 franchise, at the expense of Fax, Leigh, Widnes and the rest, would be nothing short of scandalous. Unless, of course, you're a Sky TV dish salesman.

THEY say there's no such thing as bad publicity.
Well, I think they're wrong.
Especially if anyone at Castleford thinks their Dwaine Chambers stunt - and it is a stunt - is a good idea.
Chambers has served his time and deserves the chance to pursue whatever career he chooses.
But when you turn up at a rugby league club without knowing how many players make up a team in what is commonly known as the 13-man code, you can hardly blame people for not taking you seriously, can you?