Southern will have to convince three regions to get behind a club that isn’t uniquely theirs, with the side’s matches due to be shared equally between Shark Park in Sutherland, Kogorah Oval in St George and WIN Stadium in Wollongong.

In a league that depends so strongly on regional pride and local derbies, it’s a mammoth task. But it’s here that Southern forego their European ideology for a slightly more controversial role model. 

“I can’t understand why there’s been any criticism around this,” Iemma said.

“Why wouldn’t you, in your heartland … distribute your matches in equal amounts to all the areas?

“We’d be doing no more than what (NRL club) St George Dragons are doing now and have a look at their attendances. St George have played a couple of games at WIN and they’re averaging 18,000 people. They’ve played a couple at Kogorah and they’re averaging 17,000. They had a game at Shark Park and they drew 15,000.

“Playing at WIN and Kogorah has seen the Dragons attracting fantastic crowds. If we were to play Sydney FC at WIN in front of 18,000 people or drew 20,000 at Kogorah or Sharks it would be regarded as a roaring success.

“There’s plenty of precedence.”

Although Iemma exagerrates (St George drew just over 13,000 at Shark Park and between 14,00 and 16,700 at Kogorah) the Dragons have managed some success this season, but are still a controversial pathway to follow.

The club have traditionally infuriated its fans by taking key matches to inner-Sydney venues and plummeted to the lowest attendances in the NRL in 2017, registering just over 12,000 people per match.

But out of the murky world of attendance statistics, there is some evidence that Southern NSW fans will share the spoils, as long as they’re properly distributed. After announcing that St George’s matches will be shared equally between WIN and Kogorah, the club’s average attendances rose by nearly 3,000 people this season.

“I understand people have been critical of the rugby league organisation because they’ve taken games away to ANZ but we won’t be doing that,” Iemma said.

“We’re South – based in Wollongong. We won’t be taking games away from our heartland, we’ll be playing them in outstanding venues.

“(Having) one stadium is a long-term ambition and we’re not backing away from that. We’ve been clear and honest that we’re required to have our own stadium and we’ll find the most suitable location to do that.”

FFA face a much harder task to sift through Southern’s bid than many others. The club flaunt a myriad of unique advantages, yet potential drawbacks loom ominously in the background.

It’s perhaps unsurprising then, that Iemma wants to keep their approach as open-minded as possible.

“We’re about to go through an engagement process, our colours, logo and final name are not determined,” Iemma said.

“I believe this gives voice to our motto: 'Building a club from the ground up.'”