Neither of the RSL GAL teams (07/08) in Surf Youngers existed last year, so tough to judge them on that. The 07s lost to Surf who have been ranked in the top 5 or less nationally for the last couple of years. The 08s lost several players to injury in the first game. That was reflected in their results.
The person I was talking to also is in the AZ forum. So our back and forth is a bit longer vs what you read above.
The gist of it is that more than a few are saying WOW Royals are really good this year. I have pointed out in the AZ forum that basically the top teams in DA all either left, went away, or put their top teams in ECRL.
Last year as a whole Royals over all age groups had a losing record. This year in GA they are absolutely rolling. It isn't suddenly because they became that much better, it is because the good competition isn't there anymore.
All that said I think it is a good club, with good coaches and they have some good players/teams.
If all the talent were in one league in the SW, Royals would do fine. In most cases middle of the pack (which is good considering how much deeper So Cal is), some cases worse, and in an age group here and there better.
To your other point, RSL is stronger vs Arsenal. To be honest as it stands currently RSL/Royals is the strongest club in AZ.
As a side note...I wonder what the Royals will call themselves next year? The NWSL Utah Royals has been disbanded and the women have been transferred to a yet to be named NWSL club in Kansas City. I am guessing they just call themselves RSL like the rest of the teams in the club.
I am curious to see what ECNL does next year with respect to the clubs in ECRL such as Beach, Legends, Pats, etc.