Interest in a club based National Competition has been simmering away in recent years.

With no NRC on the horizon, the club rugby season now finishes for most in late August or early September.

There's an empty window in the Australian rugby calendar and no third tier competition to give club and development players something to aspire to.

But how do you fit a national tournament like this in around the current club season?

I think we can look to the Northern Hemisphere for help and mimic the format of the Heineken or European Cup.

Here’s how it could work.