If it was ever time to merge with WCE , now is it. I am done. 45 years of supporting that rabble is enough . They have tried everything, to no avail. It just makes sense. Perth West Coast Demons, black red and gold (like the jumper in 1979 that was worn once). New changerooms and stand in the future , no coach appointed , lets move on …its time. I know I am going to cop it from the diehards (which I am one ) , but I am done if something doesnt happen. I would rather merge than fold or continue in the present format. Adrian Barich Do it!!!
You/re not going to cop it from me, Omah. I do not and will never support being an aligned club, but I’m beyond caring. If it goes to a member’s vote, I won’t vote yes, but I may well abstain. To an extent, it would be a relief to walk away, which is what I would do. I couldn’t support an alignment team. Nor could I do what EP fans did: cash in on an alignment and then pretend it never happened when it comes to an end. But i can free up my weekends, stop checking the WAFL app every five minutes when I can’t make it to a game… I’m starting to like the sound of that.
Maybe by the start of next season I’ll get a bit of hope and enthusiasm back, but I’m flat as a tack right now. I just can’t begin to imagine where success is going to come from.
[quote=“Ted Nugent post=237425 userid=2770”]You/re not going to cop it from me, Omah. I do not and will never support being an aligned club, but I’m beyond caring. If it goes to a member’s vote, I won’t vote yes, but I may well abstain. To an extent, it would be a relief to walk away, which is what I would do. I couldn’t support an alignment team. Nor could I do what EP fans did: cash in on an alignment and then pretend it never happened when it comes to an end. But i can free up my weekends, stop checking the WAFL app every five minutes when I can’t make it to a game… I’m starting to like the sound of that.
Maybe by the start of next season I’ll get a bit of hope and enthusiasm back, but I’m flat as a tack right now. I just can’t begin to imagine where success is going to come from.
[/quote]
You may as well put this 47 year malaise behind you Teddy,and spend more productive time with your confidante STD.
you do that and you can kiss goodbye to your name
WCE have had a 37 year dip at getting your name and they are just waiting for that soft handout
currently they are only team in Australia that hasn’t an actual town name
you would just be giving something that isn’t earnt and providing a pack of criminals an easy get
Rather than aligning with the wankers, the WAFC should be doing things around zones, points and salary cap to get Perth up the ladder. Having all original 8 WAFL teams competitive and enjoying success on a regular basis is essential for survival of the league. WAFC, over to you. Perth supporters have had enough and I don’t blame them one little bit.
Sadly BC, clubs aren’t going to hand over their successful zones to help Perth, as Perth aren’t going to hand over their financial success to help other clubs. Equality has two sides to it. Are Subi willing to hand over the Goldfields to Perth? I know EF handed over the North Midlands zone to Perth, now they would like Geraldton no doubt.
Perhaps a club like Peel , with the best of both worlds- money and zones should be looked at first then. Perth push into EF, EF push into SF, SF push into Peel…Peel rely on Freo for their recruiting - best 18 yr olds around the state and country…plus they get access to senior players for free, which other WAFL clubs, would cough up 10-12 pts and pay 50K for eg Reidy, Brodie, Voss, Erasmus, Aish etc. But Peel are a protected species, so that won’t happen.Cl have money and zones…the best zones, how about they cough up something?
On the flip side EP have just won the minor premiership, their zones aren’t chocablock full of riches…they have recruited quality and done their best with what local resources they have…ditto SD…have they received better zones, more cap and player points? Some clubs have zones, some have money, focus on the ones who have both first and work down from there I guess.
All this constant talk about zones. Why are there zones? There are no zones in the AFL system and, generally speaking, the competition is tight every year. Is it time to re-think the whole WAFL system and at least discuss ways of moving forward without zones. Just a thought.
[quote=“Omah post=237423 userid=2201”]If it was ever time to merge with WCE , now is it. I am done. 45 years of supporting that rabble is enough . They have tried everything, to no avail. It just makes sense. Perth West Coast Demons, black red and gold (like the jumper in 1979 that was worn once). New changerooms and stand in the future , no coach appointed , lets move on …its time. I know I am going to cop it from the diehards (which I am one ) , but I am done if something doesnt happen. I would rather merge than fold or continue in the present format. Adrian Barich Do it!!!
[/quote]
I believe that would be a backward step!
We have far too many clubs in the comp, its ridiculous, the talent pool is too thin to produce quality games, I watched a heap of footy on 7 this year and the quality of the comp has really fallen away, very few high standard games, WCE reserves are a joke, Peel would be if they did not have shockers, WP have already been banrupted once , Perth are a basket case , constant talk of moving around zones, is just shuffling the deck chairs, make one club stronger apparently by weakening another - stupid logic.
We need to consolidate what we have and make stronger sustainable club units and mitigate the damage to others, mergers/alignments call it what you like but they are the only way forward with a comp that is struggling for relevance.
Zones aren’t an instant fix either. Was speaking to someone who works at a WAFL club earlier this year and they said that even if the zones changed it could be 3-5 years before you started to see any benefit. Also, there was no guarantee that the players coming through would be of a high enough standard.
So, while a redistribution of zones may give you access to more players it’s not going to necessarily fix all the issues.
So why have zones at all? Take junior development away from individual clubs, including colts. Have a separate colts competition with 6-8 teams. And have an annual draft.
[quote=“Country member post=237486 userid=1756”]So why have zones at all? Take junior development away from individual clubs, including colts. Have a separate colts competition with 6-8 teams. And have an annual draft.
[/quote]
Taking away zones and following the Victorian model with standalone junior development pathways would be a backwards step for the WAFL.
The Vic U18s comp is fully funded by the AFL with their only concern being to support the AFL talent pathway.
Whilst the draft works for the AFL with players being offered full time contracts, a draft for the remaining players to WAFL clubs (with little to no financial gain) won’t work.
The WAFL already has significant issues retaining its talent when players go undrafted and they realise their AFL dream is over. There is a huge drain of talent to country and ammo footy. Fringe League players being offered $1000 a game and genuine league players attracting up to $2000 in the bush.
[quote=“Freezin post=237437 userid=945”]Sadly BC, clubs aren’t going to hand over their successful zones to help Perth, as Perth aren’t going to hand over their financial success to help other clubs. Equality has two sides to it. Are Subi willing to hand over the Goldfields to Perth? I know EF handed over the North Midlands zone to Perth, now they would like Geraldton no doubt.
Perhaps a club like Peel , with the best of both worlds- money and zones should be looked at first then. Perth push into EF, EF push into SF, SF push into Peel…Peel rely on Freo for their recruiting - best 18 yr olds around the state and country…plus they get access to senior players for free, which other WAFL clubs, would cough up 10-12 pts and pay 50K for eg Reidy, Brodie, Voss, Erasmus, Aish etc. But Peel are a protected species, so that won’t happen.Cl have money and zones…the best zones, how about they cough up something?
On the flip side EP have just won the minor premiership, their zones aren’t chocablock full of riches…they have recruited quality and done their best with what local resources they have…ditto SD…have they received better zones, more cap and player points? Some clubs have zones, some have money, focus on the ones who have both first and work down from there I guess.
[/quote]
How fucking entitled are you? “Clubs aren’t going to HAND over THEIR ZONES”. Like you own them like it’s your birthright. It’s that kind of selfish attitude that starves the WAFL of a fair competition. So you just expect us to survive by relying on recruiting to be competitive when in fact despite recruiting about 11 players in the last two seasons we have still only managed to finish last and second last.
If the WAFC had any guts they would redistribute zones based on consistent levels of succes or lack of it in particular country zones. It is absolute madness that while Claremont enjoys the richest metro zone probably in the country they also enjoy the riches of a thriving country zone.
At the very least the WAFC should be saying we are going to try equalising the competition by giving the strongest country zone to the weakest WAFL club and that is clearly Perth. You all make that blatantly obvious on a regular basis.
Heard someone say on a 91.3 podcast East Fremantle have 12 former AFL players in their team. Wow, incredible and I’d say all but a couple would be home grown ex AFL players. Boekhurst and English being ex SD and Perth. Perth has only one I can think of being Mathew Taylor.
Agree with your comments on zones DD. It’s no coincidence Claremont colts have finished the home and away season in the top two eight of the last ten years whereas Perth has done it only twice over the same period but also finished bottom two on 5 occasions.
There could be any number of reasons for that particular anomaly but I’d start with zone allocation if I were the WAFC.
DD, how many of the 11 recruits Perth have brought in over the last 2 seasons will still be at Perth in 2025?
And just as importantly why have they left? The club is financial so money isn’t the issue, you have more points available than other clubs too…so what’s the reason?
Answer that and it will will answer why you struggle to attract and retain the available talent from within your district. They say success breeds success…nearly 50 years of mediocrity isn’t helping Perth recruit and retain.
Why would any club hand it’s zones over to Perth who have a country zone on their doorstep and fail to work it well. What hope do you think Perth would have trying to service the Kimberley, Kalgoorlie, Albany or Esperance?
Who cares about Colts and Ressies flags anyway, it’s all about your League team winning a flag. Subiaco didn’t get much through there zone for several years and most that did come through went on to AFL but recruited well and had excellent success. EP doesn’t have a good metro zone but again have recruited well. Swans have recruited well too.
If Claremont and EF have such strong zones then why aren’t Perth topping up their squad with the overflowing talent once these players turn 19 and arent on the protected 40? seems most of the movement is from Perth not too Perth. I’m sure Cody Leggett is happy with his decision
Worst Case Scenario
A Graders Gone: Thompson, Chaplin, Sing, Avery
B Graders Gone: Manzone, Cary, AJ, Howard, Poole, Cooley
A Graders Retained and to get more out of: Constable (only played 8-9), Schlensog (only played 8-9), A Clarke (only played 11-12), Simpson (only played 3-4 games)
To continue current form: Taylor, Byrne, Coniglio, R Clarke, TBH, Stubbs,
To improve on good seasons: Wills, J Clark, Kemp, Ewing, Edwards, Davis, Fairbank, Johnston, Cachard, Hine Baston, Hall x 2, Newick, Scoble, Bodle, John, Gray, Hill, Q,
I am not sure about Shannon, Phillips, Pettit, Hayward, Lee, Wood, Moody, Lonnie, Evans
FYI for all the posters on this zone topic.No opinions just facts.I took out these stats(from Ric’s excellent site) some time ago when a discussion of WP’s zone performance was being discussed and it made for some interesting reading.I took the period 1994 - 2023 inclusive( being 30 seasons) and that coincided with the first year WP started in Joondalup so they were closer to their metropolitan zone.While collating the info the performance of some of the other clubs started to get intriguing.Anyway here goes.
Some factors to consider: 1) some years were final 5,the majority 4.2)Peel started in1997.3)there have been zone changes at various stages - haven’t listed anything on that.Using the basis of a) finals contested b) GF appearances and c) premiership wons the “league ladder “ looks like this:
CL. 26,19,10
EF. 21,10,4
SF. 14,7,4
Peel 13,5,3
SD. 12,6,4
EP. 12,3,2
Su. 12,3,2
P. 10,5,1
WP. 9,2,0
Some interesting side points - SD have beaten CL 3 times for their premierships and the Leederville co-tenants(although not for all the period in question) have exactly the same record.Some info is pretty straightforward but some surprising.
Hope this stuff is interesting and might help your respective points of view.
Naagh not being entitled DD, just realistic…in a dog eat dog competition, not sure any club is willingly going to hand another club any sort of advantage they have.
I can’t see many clubs are going to be thrilled to hand over a zone, they have heavily invested in and built from the ground up, with their own financial resources and manpower, to a club, to simply walk in a reap the benefits from the off. But I wouldn’t say no to Perth snaring Peel’s zone as a starting point…does Peel even need a zone with an AFL club funding them?
[quote=“TheFeds post=237498 userid=3849”]FYI for all the posters on this zone topic.No opinions just facts.I took out these stats(from Ric’s excellent site) some time ago when a discussion of WP’s zone performance was being discussed and it made for some interesting reading.I took the period 1994 - 2023 inclusive( being 30 seasons) and that coincided with the first year WP started in Joondalup so they were closer to their metropolitan zone.While collating the info the performance of some of the other clubs started to get intriguing.Anyway here goes.
Some factors to consider: 1) some years were final 5,the majority 4.2)Peel started in1997.3)there have been zone changes at various stages - haven’t listed anything on that.Using the basis of a) finals contested b) GF appearances and c) premiership wons the “league ladder “ looks like this:
CL. 26,19,10
EF. 21,10,4
SF. 14,7,4
Peel 13,5,3
SD. 12,6,4
EP. 12,3,2
Su. 12,3,2
P. 10,5,1
WP. 9,2,0
Some interesting side points - SD have beaten CL 3 times for their premierships and the Leederville co-tenants(although not for all the period in question) have exactly the same record.Some info is pretty straightforward but some surprising.
Hope this stuff is interesting and might help your respective points of view.
[/quote]
Really interesting Colts stats but just proves Zones and Colts success isn’t directly related to League premierships.
In that same time period - League Flags
S - 9
WP - 5
SF - 4
C - 3
EF - 3
EP - 3
PT - 2
SD - 1
P - 0
[quote=“Time For a Flag post=237497 userid=1037”]Worst Case Scenario
A Graders Gone: Thompson, Chaplin, Sing, Avery
P
B Graders Gone: Manzone, Cary, AJ, Howard, Poole, Cooley
A Graders Retained and to get more out of: Constable (only played 8-9), Schlensog (only played 8-9), A Clarke (only played 11-12), Simpson (only played 3-4 games)
To continue current form: Taylor, Byrne, Coniglio, R Clarke, TBH, Stubbs,
To improve on good seasons: Wills, J Clark, Kemp, Ewing, Edwards, Davis, Fairbank, Johnston, Cachard, Hine Baston, Hall x 2, Newick, Scoble, Bodle, John, Gray, Hill, Q,
I am not sure about Shannon, Phillips, Pettit, Hayward, Lee, Wood, Moody, Lonnie, Evans
[/quote]
Schlensog played 15 games, only missed the first three.