I note that the netball World Cup is currently under way. This is a sport largely only played by Commonwealth countries and largely dominated by 3 nations. They have a 16 team competition with the regular "blow outs"* and yet l don't see plans there to reduce numbers.
I would have thought that RL should have a marginally wider geographical spell and that alone should be enough to muster 16 teams together which should be the absolute minimum.
I can only speak for myself but I don't have an issue with blowouts or heritage players (although I don't believe the general public does either TBH) and I firmly believe that the credibility of the competition is more damaged by imploding in on itself with a (just over) half sized tournament, especially if it includes one of the so called "super groups" which were much derided in previous competitions.
*23 of the first 32 games saw a winning margin of 20 points or more.