Canberra Raiders chief executive Don Furner's brevity was apt when asked about the idea.

"It's not worth commenting on because there's no proposal to comment on," he told The Canberra Times on Wednesday morning.

Not only had no proposal been forwarded to Canberra, but the NRL hadn't spoken to them about it either.

Not surprising given they'll be one of the hardest hit clubs if the zany idea was allowed to get any further than a thought bubble.

The Raiders wouldn't be the only club privately against the idea. There's the feeling every other non-Sydney club would also vote against it's introduction.

It's probably a different story from the nine Sydney clubs - South Sydney, Cronulla, Penrith, Manly, Canterbury, Parramatta, the Sydney Roosters and St George Illawarra - given they'll barely have to travel outside of Sydney ever again.

A bit like last year when the Panthers and Eels were both given armchair rides to the NRL finals after the coronavirus pandemic forced the rescheduling of the draw.

Not surprisingly they cruised to the play-offs as trips to Kogarah Park become about the furthest they had to put up with.

Similarly, the Raiders could look forward to a similarly tough travel schedule to what they had in 2020, when they were forced to play home games in Sydney - travelling up and back on game day on a bus.

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But instead of travelling to Sydney, they'll now be travelling further afield more often.

It will also hit the Raiders' hip pocket with less home games against their biggest drawing opponents and more against their smallest.

At a time when NRL clubs are trying to recover from the financial hit of COVID-19 it's mindboggling that it's even being considered.

For those that missed it, the NRL's considering splitting the competition into two conferences - Sydney and then the rest.

The Raiders naturally fall into the category of "the rest" - or the "Wither on the Vine" Conference as it could potentially be known - along with North Queensland, the New Zealand Warriors, Brisbane, the Gold Coast Titans, Newcastle and Melbourne.

Part of it would include the expansion to include a second Brisbane team and potentially another one in Kiwiland.

The Raiders would then play everyone home and away in the Wither on the Vine conference, and the Sydney clubs just once.

It would lead to a 25-game season, with the grand final potentially between the winners of the two conferences.

Apparently it would boost traditional rivalries. Like the much-vaunted Raiders-Warriors rivalry and the blockbuster Green Machine-Titans one.

But what it would really do is benefit the Sydney clubs and hurt everyone else.

The Raiders would have to travel to Townsville, Auckland, Melbourne, the Gold Coast, Brisbane and Newcastle every season (they currently travel to play the Cowboys once every 1.2 seasons on average).

It means more longer trips for away games and less trips up to Sydney - they currently play six away games in the Harbour City on average, which would drop to 4.5 on average under the conference system.

Financially it's a massive fail for the Raiders as well.

Over the past decade, the four teams that pull the biggest average crowd at Canberra Stadium were all from Sydney - the Rabbitohs (14,326), the Sea Eagles (13,982), Parramatta (13,918) and the Roosters (13,166).

Only the Broncos (13,006) rate in the top seven from the wither conference, coming it at fifth.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, four of the bottom five drawing crowds are wither-conference clubs.

While the Panthers (10,192) prop up the bottom of the table, it's then all withering from there - Newcastle (10,359), the Titans (10,624), the Cows (10,786) and the Warriors (10,896).

That means less bums on seats at Canberra Stadium and less money in the Raiders' coffers, which in turn could have the flow-on effect of making it harder to attract sponsors.

As the kids would say today, "Yeah, nah."

NRL ROUND EIGHT

Thursday: Canberra Raiders v South Sydney Rabbitohs at GIO Stadium, 7.50pm

Raiders squad: 1. Caleb Aekins, 2. Bailey Simonsson, 3. Sebastian Kris, 4. Curtis Scott, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. George Williams, 8. Ryan James, 9. Tom Starling, 10. Emre Guler, 11. Corey Harawira-Naera, 12. Elliott Whitehead (c), 13. Ryan Sutton. Interchange: 14. Siliva Havili, 15. Joe Tapine, 16. Corey Horsburgh, 17. Hudson Young. Reserves: 18. Matt Timoko, 19. Sia Soliola, 20. Matt Frawley, 21. Dunamis Lui.

Rabbitohs squad: 1. Cody Walker, 2. Alex Johnston, 3. Dane Gagai, 4. Campbell Graham, 5. Jaxson Paulo, 6. Benji Marshall, 7. Adam Reynolds, 8. Thomas Burgess, 9. Damien Cook, 10. Tevita Tatola, 11. Keaon Koloamatangi, 12. Jaydn Su'A, 13. Cameron Murray. Interchange: 14. Mark Nicholls, 15. Liam Knight, 16. Jacob Host, 17. Jai Arrow. Reserves: 18. Steven Marsters, 19. Hame Sele, 20. Patrick Mago, 21. Dean Hawkins.