TOPIC:

i have been wondering for awhile now why is clermont such a strong team

They have the best zone in the league.

In fairness to them, they work their zone pretty hard and even though they don't have many multicultural areas within their metro zone, they do give opportunities to kids of all backgrounds including Indigenous lads.

It's almost as though they make a special effort to locate multicultural and Indigenous kids because they have far less in their metro zone than most other clubs yet the numbers they push through their colts system are higher than most other WAFL clubs.

Thus, I don't think they'll ever lose any significant part of their zone either, so they will be strong for as long as they want to be basically.

I should mention that South Fremantle have by far the most multicultural colts teams each week which reflects their zone. They are another club which has no hesitation in pushing through kids of all racial backgrounds. They are a really tough side at colts level.

Another reason is the influence of the private colleges in claremonts zones are are all junior football centres of excellence , Claremont also have an excellent country zone in Albany,

Bazza wrote: Another reason is the influence of the private colleges in claremonts zones are are all junior football centres of excellence , Claremont also have an excellent country zone in Albany,

Exactly, it's the PSA colleges which makes their zone the best rather than their raw numbers.

Albany is great as you say and then they have those smaller towns in the South-West like Gnowangerup, Jerramungup, Kent, Lake Grace, Ravensthorpe, Newdegate etc and they do okay out of their North-West Kimberley region as well.

But credit to them, they don't let much slip through the net.

Actually upon checking, their country zone is huge. Unless something has changed they have. Best of both worlds.

Country

GSFL: Railways, Royals, Denmark, Mt Barker, North Albany, Albany

OFA: Borden, Boxwood Hill, Gnowangerup, Jerramungup, Lake Grace, Newdegate

R&DFA: Tigers, Southerners, Lakes

WKFA: Bidyadanga, Bulls, Saints, Cable Beach, Looma, Peninsula, Towns, Derby

Metro

Scotch College
Hale School
Christchurch Grammar

Claremont JFC
Cottesloe JFC
Dalkeith-Nedlands JFC
Marist JFC
Mosman Park JFC
North Beach JFC
Scarborough JFC
Subiaco JFC
Swanbourne JFC
Wembley Downs JFC
Wembley JFC
West Coast JFC (City Beach)

Also I did see Claremont advertising for more junior scouts recently, so they don't leave anything to chance.

There AFL reps having nothing to do with it do they? Oh well 2014 should tell the story but looking at another thread they dont have many playing as a rule (3) last week and not much to write home about.
Could be a power for couple more years because having so many good zoned players wont hurt their points.
All comes back to how this ALIGNMENT CRAP goes though..

A couple of posts off the CLAREMONT THREAD that I think says it all

TIGER OF OLD SAYS

Webb says in today's paper there will be a massive challenge next year because of the loss of our 9 afl players. McKenzie, waters, hill, de Boer, fyfe, suban? Shouldn't be too big a challenge coping without players that never playdfor us. Mcginnity, silvagni and McGovern? Were doing alright without them this year.

Reply from Freezin

can anyone tell me how many games all those payers have played in the last 2 years except McGovern and Silvagni....suprised if the number goes beyond 10.....not too sure what Webb is getting at there.......interesting to see how many AFL games(full) that Lee and Mitchell have played this year to.....those two guys dominated the WAFL last year...yet how well are they doing this year at their respective AFL strongholds?....surely the WAFL aint that bad is it?

Source OZFOOTY - CLAREMONT THREAD

Just a quick example of how strong the PSA schools are in Claremont's zone and how they impact the Claremont FC. Each of the PSA schools have 5 teams above 14 years of age. The 1st XVIII, The 2nd XVIII, The 3rd XVIII, 10A & 9A. That's a lot of players.

From Hale School's 1st XVIII in 2012 14 players have graduated to colts squads in 2013.

12 of those were by residence bound to Claremont.

Those were Luke Rosher (Wembley Downs JFC), Tom Barrass (Scarborough JFC/WA 18's also), Darcy Cameron (North Albany FC/WA 18's), Sam Bevan (Wembley Downs JFC/WA 18's), Timm House (Gnowangerup FC), Harrison McCracken (Marist JFC), Alex Jellis (City Beach WCJFC), Sam Humphrey (Wembley Downs JFC), Joel Ebert (Ravensthorpe FC), Shane McAdam (Halls Creek), Ryan Lim (City Beach WCJFC/WA 18's), Harry Taylor (Tambellup)

That's massive for Claremont in one intake. Four WA 18's players in a year.

The other two were Cameron Loersch (South Mandurah JFC/Peel), Mitch Turner (Mines FC/Subiaco)

Makes me wonder? Does Claremont have a boarding program for their talented country footballers in conjunction with Hale?

It seems that an awful high percentage of the best country boarders at Hale are originally from the Claremont country zone.