I find it a little amusing that you use Alan Joyce's statement to discredit the rumour I mentioned but in the same post you say that the future fleet plans he has announced almost certainly wont occur. So do we believe him or not??
The 787 Perth London patterns are not MDC, Nor are any of the Los Angeles patterns.
Have you looked at the patterns??
Many of the London patterns are crewed from the east coast and all of those attract MDC. Of the 49 LAX pattern codes all but 4 are built on MDC and all of the PER-MEL patterns are MDC. Some of these factors will change as more crew are trained and the fleet increases but these are the facts on the ground now. As you say, if 787 flying to Asia increases the EA proposition improves and given the 744 flies to Hong Kong and Tokyo it's a good chance that will happen.
Also told 787 crews will NOT slip in JFK but fly LAX-JFK-LAX in one return 3-4 pilot so as to avoid MDC. AIPA did not include the 787 to have a two day slip requirement in JFK.
There is nowhere in the EA that varies the slip pattern for JFK flights for the 787.
I do agree with you that the SCL and JNB flights are not best suited to the 787 and I think you will be proven right that the 744 will be here longer than announced. However, these route difficulties are the very reason a 777-8 or A350-800 (with 330 and 370 min ETOPS respectively) would be an ideal addition to the fleet around about 2020.