TOPIC:

Another 7West journo has raised the topic of inequity in the WAFL. 8 months ago it was Mark Duffield from the West Australian calling for a change in the pecking order. 

This time it's Seven's Adrian Barich writing for Perth Now calling for change highlighting that one club he didn't name (Claremont) have made finals in colts 40 out of the last 45 years. 

We've (us Perth supporters) at least, have been banging on about it for decades. I know current Perth general manager Russell Clark tabled an extensive letter to the WAFC last year pointing out that nothing has changed since last time he was Perth football manager 28 years ago. 

The estimated crowd at the Perth v EP game a month ago on Anzac Day was 3 - 4000. Last week's game v EF was estimated at 600. Perth win the opening game and were in the top 5 before the Anzac Day game and EP win their opening match. When teams like Perth, EP and SD are up and about crowds flock to the WAFL. Wake up you flogs. 

Until Perth are represented on the WAFC nothing will change. I haven't been to a game since the flogging we copped against EP. I just can't be bothered anymore knowing the likely outcome and it looks like I've got a lot of mates.

www.perthnow.com.au/local-news/perthnow-...-addressed-c-6915034

DD wrote:

Another 7West journo has raised the topic of inequity in the WAFL. 8 months ago it was Mark Duffield from the West Australian calling for a change in the pecking order. 

This time it's Seven's Adrian Barich writing for Perth Now calling for change highlighting that one club he didn't name (Claremont) have made finals in colts 40 out of the last 45 years. 

We've (us Perth supporters) at least, have been banging on about it for decades. I know current Perth general manager Russell Clark tabled an extensive letter to the WAFC last year pointing out that nothing has changed since last time he was Perth football manager 28 years ago. 

The estimated crowd at the Perth v EP game a month ago on Anzac Day was 3 - 4000. Last week's game v EF was estimated at 600. Perth win the opening game and were in the top 5 before the Anzac Day game and EP win their opening match. When teams like Perth, EP and SD are up and about crowds flock to the WAFL. Wake up you flogs. 

Until Perth are represented on the WAFC nothing will change. I haven't been to a game since the flogging we copped against EP. I just can't be bothered anymore knowing the likely outcome and it looks like I've got a lot of mates.

www.perthnow.com.au/local-news/perthnow-...-addressed-c-6915034

Why not use the official crowd numbers here DD? 1443 to watch the Sharks defeat your mob and 2081 for the Royals demolition job. But fair point that ANZAC day shocker would certainly put many punters off. 

Barich makes a good point especially about the inequitable zones, it has been getting worse since the introduction of Peel 25+ years ago which severely impacted the likes of Perth, SD & SF especially.

But then on the other hand you have his 7/West mate Dumffield calling for Bunbury (Swans country zone of 3 clubs) to be the Eagles Reserves team partner........without giving any consideration whatsoever to SD and how they would be massively effected AGAIN after having to hand over most of our SW zone to Peel who aligned to Fremantle in the end anyway!

Meanwhile the likes of Claremont go on their merry way with a golden metro zone, and then their country zones- the very football strong Great Southern League, the Ongerup League & 3 x Leagues in the Kimberley (West, Central & East)  that the afl are helping with financing their development!

Spot on DD. Here we go again on the equalisation merry-go-round. Hello. Anybody home at the WAFC? The comps already mimicking the EPL but I see nothing being done to address the structural problems that can better equalise the comp.

The PFC report you refer to on WAFL equalisation strategies makes clear the socio-economic and demographic trends against us in both our metro and country zones. I suspect SD and EP would face something similar, certainly in metro zones, but not as dramatic and sustained as we have faced. 

Good on Barra for continuing to advocate. Good to see him at a few games this season as well. But does anybody understand this stuff, or care, at the WAFC? So far, you'd say not. 

 

Ti Em wrote:

DD wrote:

Another 7West journo has raised the topic of inequity in the WAFL. 8 months ago it was Mark Duffield from the West Australian calling for a change in the pecking order. 

This time it's Seven's Adrian Barich writing for Perth Now calling for change highlighting that one club he didn't name (Claremont) have made finals in colts 40 out of the last 45 years. 

We've (us Perth supporters) at least, have been banging on about it for decades. I know current Perth general manager Russell Clark tabled an extensive letter to the WAFC last year pointing out that nothing has changed since last time he was Perth football manager 28 years ago. 

The estimated crowd at the Perth v EP game a month ago on Anzac Day was 3 - 4000. Last week's game v EF was estimated at 600. Perth win the opening game and were in the top 5 before the Anzac Day game and EP win their opening match. When teams like Perth, EP and SD are up and about crowds flock to the WAFL. Wake up you flogs. 

Until Perth are represented on the WAFC nothing will change. I haven't been to a game since the flogging we copped against EP. I just can't be bothered anymore knowing the likely outcome and it looks like I've got a lot of mates.

www.perthnow.com.au/local-news/perthnow-...-addressed-c-6915034

Why not use the official crowd numbers here DD? 1443 to watch the Sharks defeat your mob and 2081 for the Royals demolition job. But fair point that ANZAC day shocker would certainly put many punters off. 

I wasn’t aware of that TM though I thought the 3 - 4000 estimate was over the top but someone who was there told me the low crowd estimate at the P v EF was about right. 

Dazzler wrote:

Spot on DD. Here we go again on the equalisation merry-go-round. Hello. Anybody home at the WAFC? The comps already mimicking the EPL but I see nothing being done to address the structural problems that can better equalise the comp.

The PFC report you refer to on WAFL equalisation strategies makes clear the socio-economic and demographic trends against us in both our metro and country zones. I suspect SD and EP would face something similar, certainly in metro zones, but not as dramatic and sustained as we have faced. 

Good on Barra for continuing to advocate. Good to see him at a few games this season as well. But does anybody understand this stuff, or care, at the WAFC? So far, you'd say not. 


 

Yep if we keep knocking on the door hopefully someone is going to open it one day. Until then more or the same I’m afraid.

The zones have been grotesquely distorted since 1997 when Mandurah were entered the league - long held areas were suddenly lost by a few clubs and yet others somehow never changed 
And in some cases there's been a loss of good talent because of this and a lot a Mandurah players have ended up on other clubs' lists due to their sudden alignment which is a bloody debacle really
They shouldn't have many zones and these could be redistributed to the needier or back to original condition

As i sat there at claremont oval in the second half last week,watching their plethora of midfielders streaming up and down the field, which has been a recurring constant theme fot the last 30 odd years,the old question of ''where do they find them'popped up in my mentally scarred  brain,and after a quick perusal of the budget,i noticed that Bolton was their only ''non zone''recruit,so the 40 out of 45 year colts finals participation ratio is something very difficult for the barren talent laddened  zoned clubs to overcome.                    You've only got to look at our recruit Thomas Mehdat from the Joondalup region,who at 21 had only played 10 league games,and when you see his marking ability,you find it hard to believe our beloved rivals had the luxury of playing this bloke predominately in the reserves,but it perfectly highlights the depth of their zones,and i'm afraid i can't see any easy fix here unless the commission decides to get a bit creative and seek a more equitable zone solution.

gtrxuone wrote:

RL the East Perth inncer city zones going ok atm.Mt Lawley/Inglewood.Mt Hawthorne, Coolbinya add Ellenbrook and Ballajura.+Morley, Bayswater, Noranda.
In year 4 under 10's.Both the MT Lawley and Hawthorne have 3 teams Really good participation numbers in the junior ranks.
Nowhere near the junior numbers running through clubs like Claremont and West Perth.But great to see a pulse in EP metro zone.

We're slowly getting there with the junior clubs GTR,and the league side is on the improve,but a sobering stat on the weekend was the fact that only 50% of the league side were from metro and country zones,where clubs like the Tigers and Falcons are sitting at 90-95%

Perth have to routinely pick up fringe players from other clubs just to get a squad together. Coniglio, Quill, McPartland, Hitchcock, Peltier, Ajang, Walley (new to the list),Giblett, Martin, Avery, La Fontaine, More, Sears,  Screaigh, Quartermaine, Johnson... then there are local players who couldn't make it at Perth, went elsewhere, still couldn't make it, and came back: Jones, J Busher, Hug. Some make it, like Giblett, Avery (though having a bad second season), Hug, but most remain fringe players. Year after year our list is full of these types of players. We have a small core of  quality local players: Byrne, Sinclair, Clarke, Taylor, Busher, McInnes. Three of those are likely in the last couple of years of their career, and by the time any decent colts get to league level, they will be gone. You can't recruit your way to success, not in the long term. Without zone reform, nothing is going to change. Trust me, there will be no gentrification of Gosnells, Maddington, Kenwick. But because zones and equalisation don't matter to the AFL club, in that they don't affect the number of players drafted, the WAFC will never care.