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La Hincha wrote: Grump, would you be open to the idea that EP no longer recruits from outside of it's zone?

At least that would give your juniors some chance of playing league football from 2014 onwards.

I thought EP junior zone was full of Afghanistan, Somalian, Malawi and South East Asian restaurants/corner stores?....or even worse Perth Glory fans!!

Ok Freeze and Rock, I've been helping out in subi zone in a very small way for 12-18 months. A large Part of our zone - Warwick, Hammersley, Stirling, Balcatta, Tuart Hill, Gwelup and Osborne Park which are a bit like EP's. Soccer really is a force out that way.

Then we have Mirrabooka, Balga, Nollamara, Koondoola, Girrawheen and Marangaroo which are fairly unique in the metropolitan area.

Then to the North of those we have Madeley, Darch, Landsdale, Hocking and Pearsall which are different again. Very multi-cultural as apart from the two above where one or two non-anglo cultures dominate.

But then we have a few suburbs like East Frem's - Sorrento, Duncraig, Carine and Marmion, so you really get to see the differences. Their parents usually drive them to training without fail.

It's a bit like the whole of Perth's demographic rolled into one and I really like that but it does present some obstacles. Sometimes it's as simple as the first gen lad likes footy but his father doesn't, so refuses to allow him to try out for dev squads etc. Or in some cultures, footy is not considered to be a worthwhile career choice.

In some areas, we have some talented kids, who have peers always discouraging them from footy. Have a drink instead bro!

Full credit to the Indigenous lads this season so far. They've been car pooling and their attendance to training has been first class.

One thing I've noticed for the first time is that quite a lot of the boys in Landsdale and around that area follow English Premier League as well as basketball and footy. Even boys who play dev squad for Subi. That's a new one for me that's for sure. Bit different from my day But times are a changing I guess.

I love our zone. It's not one of the biggest but it's so interesting. It's not without some challenges but I reckon it's going well. Between Jeff Lind, who has lifted the entire program up, the dev coaches, the club coaches and the scouts, not a single player goes unidentified nowadays.

I just wish the my fellow Wog boys in the old "market gardens" would play a little less soccer and a bit more footy but can't have everything you want in life.

I admire SF. They have an interesting demographic but they find a way to get a lot of kids into the system and playing AFL/WAFL. Can safely say though, we're on their tail.

Well said LH & it is very similar in the SD & P zones as well re demographics & social problems etc as I have had first hand experience in both of them.
EF & C seriously should realise how lucky they have it in their well to do metro zones, a major reason the upper class toffs at the WCE continually choose EF & C players over equally talented kids from the other WAFL clubs is due entirely to "where they come from"!

It is not so much what zone area you have but how much work you put into those areas and this is especially so for country zones. East Fremantle has worked closely with their Mid West country zone for fifty years or more and many fine players have come from there and gone on to be AFL stars. The club travels up there every year and plays there every two years with all grades playing along with coaching clinics,school visits and a development squad that is producing fine players year in year out. It is strange how hard work brings results something some other clubs should take on board.

garbo you are wasting your time telling some of these boys here those things about EF 'hard work' in developing their zones etc....they seem to be happy to preach and praise all their hard work in setting up their club financially, yet ignore and whinge that other clubs do exactly the same but in other area's of their club, like developing their junior zones....each to their own I guess!!

every zone has it's challenges, socially, ethnically etc....yeah some more worse off than others....it's not EFFC or CFC 'fault' WCE or any other AFL club draft their players is it 27?....as it's not SD fault BHP chose them as their face of the WAFL instead of EF or CL.... or Subi's fault that WCE/Freo play their matches at Subi oval and Subi still reap some fair decent financial benefits from this!

It seems some of you boys want all the good financial backers/deals PLUS better footy orientated zones....just face the fact clubs like EF or CFC earn their monies via their development of kids from their 'better off footy wise' suburbs, whilst SD and Subi are better off financially through their connections with BHP, Subi Oval etc...it all evens out in the end....christ how many flags did Subi win between 2000 - 2010?....even SD have played more GF and won more GF than EF in that time....as for CL, well good on them for reaping the harvest of what they have.

As much as you guys say EF should get more proactive and show more initiative with their finances, perhaps SD and Subi should be the same with what they have in their zones ....it's not as though WA has always been a soccer/basketball dominated state is it?

La Hincha have a scroll down SF playing list mate on WAFL online.....a lot of their kids came from EF junior footy clubs...yeah so kudos for them finding ways of getting kids into the footy system

To be fair, from what I have seen over the last 2 years, all 8 traditional clubs are working their zone pretty hard. They should be commended I reckon. I think the introduction of the points system has woken a few up.

In my mind, the winner of us 8, will be the club that keeps them in the system for as long as possible.

Freezin wrote: every zone has it's challenges, socially, ethnically etc....yeah some more worse off than others....it's not EFFC or CFC 'fault' WCE or any other AFL club draft their players is it 27?....as it's not SD fault BHP chose them as their face of the WAFL instead of EF or CL.... or Subi's fault that WCE/Freo play their matches at Subi oval and Subi still reap some fair decent financial benefits from this!

It seems some of you boys want all the good financial backers/deals PLUS better footy orientated zones....just face the fact clubs like EF or CFC earn their monies via their development of kids from their 'better off footy wise' suburbs, whilst SD and Subi are better off financially through their connections with BHP, Subi Oval etc...it all evens out in the end....christ how many flags did Subi win between 2000 - 2010?....even SD have played more GF and won more GF than EF in that time....as for CL, well good on them for reaping the harvest of what they have.

As much as you guys say EF should get more proactive and show more initiative with their finances, perhaps SD and Subi should be the same with what they have in their zones....it's not as though WA has always been a soccer/basketball dominated state is it?

La Hincha have a scroll down SF playing list mate on WAFL online.....a lot of their kids came from EF junior footy clubs...yeah so kudos for them finding ways of getting kids into the footy system

Hahaha..yeah South have a few from EF (And Claremont) but I reckon they've done well with their Indigenous boys. So many I saw in SF sides in the recent development squad carnivals and a lot in who have come from their colts side of 2012 and moved up this year. Really talented from what I've seen.

And as I mentioned, I'm not complaining about subi's zone - I really like it - it's unique I reckon - but it has turned out to be a bit trickier than what I thought. Boys getting themselves involved in some silly stuff etc.

What's up with some of these kids following the EPL nowadays. Ok, kids getting involved in a bit of anti-social behaviour is one thing - but following Man U?

like I said before LH, keeping them in the system at a club will be doubly hard, now because of Peel and EP affiliation and a shed load of AFL clubs seeking talent from a very early age....Subi could lose a fair chunk of their good juniors in Grace, Sheed etc before they play more than 10 games at Subi.....face the fact mate Grace could be kicking 10 for EP in a year or so time v subi.....that will be hard for many a Subi fan to swallow I reckon.....same as seeing Cripps, Dick, Masten, Kennedy etc doing the same for EP when they play EF in years to come.

Freezin wrote: like I said before LH, keeping them in the system at a club will be doubly hard, now because of Peel and EP affiliation and a shed load of AFL clubs seeking talent from a very early age....Subi could lose a fair chunk of their good juniors in Grace, Sheed etc before they play more than 10 games at Subi.....face the fact mate Grace could be kicking 10 for EP in a year or so time v subi.....that will be hard for many a Subi fan to swallow I reckon.....same as seeing Cripps, Dick, Masten, Kennedy etc doing the same for EP when they play EF in years to come.

Of course mate. I'm prepared for that. I've got a fairly good idea which of the kids 14 yrs upwards are going to be looked at. No worries there. I want them to get drafted for their sake.

It's keeping the ones that don't get drafted. But even more so, keeping the ones that are looking like they might slide of the rails a bit at 16 or 17.