I have no idea what he is doing.
If I had to guess, I would say that the NRL is not invested in helping disadvantaged clubs get their turn of the fair share, so pleas would be mostly on deaf ears. This is not to say I am accusing them of cronyism or favouritism, just that the NRL are not going to attempt to manipulate their market too aggressively, preferring to let clubs compete as businesses.
I sometimes wonder out loud if the NRL would not be OK with some Sydney-based clubs dying on the vine, in order to dilute the local market. However I believe current thinking is that the NRL cannot afford to potentially lose the fans that might disappear with a dead Sydney club (like with the Bears), and also the NRL uses their landslide advantage in Sydney to help fight AFL incursion (i.e they are not confident that the AFL would not fill the void).
Also, if the NRL was to intentionally ignore the pleas of lower-based clubs, it does them no good in key markets like Auckland and Gold Coast, and to a lesser extent Newcastle and Townsville.