WA Country Zones

gtr…that 79 EF side will always be my favourite, with so many great WAFL players…though compared to the great sides of that era in Perth(76,77,78), SF(79,80,81) Cl(80,81,82) and SD(82,83,84) that EF side came up short. Fantastic effort for all those sides to play in 3 GF on the trot, in such a strong era of footy…and more so for SD to win all 3.

Would love to how many of those sides had country boys in them…can think it would be quite a few.

Freeze I’m pretty sure Swans had Shine,Rance,Baker of the top of my head.Not sure about the Narkle brothers,maby the hills area.
South’s indigenous players+a few more.
As this thread started.Im guessing up to 7 players + in thoes good Claremont teams.Krakourers,Mitchell,Panizza,Pearce.Hunter, Ditchburn,Davidson as starters.

GTR from our country zone we had the following that played in at least one of the Premiership teams in the 80s & 90-
Baker, Davidson, Renfree, Boucher, Shine, K.Narkle, Langsford, Skwirowski, Cransberg, Rance, Fogarty, P.Narkle, Grasso, Strempel, Eaton.
Some other good country ones from that era were Olsen, Ugle, Cormack, Meadows, Bazzo, Thorn, Old, Thornton etc.
And then Peel came along…

Thanks BH.How could I forget Grasso and Basso. Great Bunbury players.
BH where did the Narkle brothers come from?

We can see here why some clubs did very well in the 80’s/90’s. I would really struggle to reel off a bunch of household names in my entire life as a Perth supporter from our country zones. No wonder we struggle to compete.

[quote=“gtrxuone post=232486 userid=2215”]Thanks BH.How could I forget Grasso and Basso. Great Bunbury players.
BH where did the Narkle brothers come from?
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Bunbury mate.

[quote=“DD post=232489 userid=1749”]We can see here why some clubs did very well in the 80’s/90’s. I would really struggle to reel off a bunch of household names in my entire life as a Perth supporter from our country zones. No wonder we struggle to compete.
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DD Perth have had some absolute stars from their country zone some of WA’s best including Lance Franklin, Darren Glass, Chance Bateman, Leon Davis etc but yes most in this afl era where you dont see much of them past 18yo but that is experienced by all WAFL clubs nowadays!
Back in the 70s, 80s ,90s & 00s there was also the likes of- Willie Dick, Brad Edwards, Nathan Mourish (son of Gus), Troy Cook, Robbie Haddrill, Scott Stevens, Damon White, Brennan Stack, Sharrod Wellingham, Cruize Garlett, Alistair Smith, Gerald Ugle, Simon Tunbridge, Jaeger O’Meara, Dean Kent, Matthew Taylor, Zac Fisher, Gordon Narrier, Bobby Hill, Sydney Stack, Deven Robertson, Logan McDonald, Nathan O’Driscoll, Aiden O’Driscoll & Coen Livingstone that have been drafted and come from Perth’s country zone.
Some pretty handy WAFL players too- Murray Couper, Kim Fancote, Lindsay Carter, Oral McGuire, Chester Mackean, Terry & Kim Coleman, Glen Moir, Ian Newman, Gavin Whittington, John Clarkson, Rod & Troy Bogaards, Steven Lally, Wayne Ryder etc.

DD Perth have had some absolute stars from their country zone some of WA’s best including Lance Franklin, Darren Glass, Chance Bateman, Leon Davis etc but yes most in this afl era where you dont see much of them past 18yo but that is experienced by all WAFL clubs nowadays!
Back in the 70s, 80s ,90s & 00s there was also the likes of- Willie Dick, Brad Edwards, Nathan Mourish (son of Gus), Troy Cook, Robbie Haddrill, Scott Stevens, Damon White, Brennan Stack, Sharrod Wellingham, Cruize Garlett, Alistair Smith, Gerald Ugle, Simon Tunbridge, Jaeger O’Meara, Dean Kent, Matthew Taylor, Zac Fisher, Gordon Narrier, Bobby Hill, Sydney Stack, Deven Robertson, Logan McDonald, Nathan O’Driscoll, Aiden O’Driscoll & Coen Livingstone that have been drafted and come from Perth’s country zone.
Some pretty handy WAFL players too- Murray Couper, Kim Fancote, Lindsay Carter, Oral McGuire, Chester Mackean, Terry & Kim Coleman, Glen Moir, Ian Newman, Gavin Whittington, John Clarkson, Rod & Troy Bogaards, Steven Lally, Wayne Ryder etc.
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Yes BH I knew there would be plenty pre Eagles but not of the quality and quantity that your club and a few others have had. Can add Dion Woods to that list above.

Yes BH I knew there would be plenty pre Eagles but not of the quality and quantity that your club and a few others have had. Can add Dion Woods to that list above.
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I think Dion Woods came from the Belmont JFC, the same as Michael Johnson DD.

Another Perth Afl player from the country.
Quinton Narkle from Northam like Bobby Hill.Currently at Port Adelaide,picket up in the mid season draft.At his 3rd AFL club.
All the boy needs is a couple of games in a row at Afl level.

I think Dion Woods came from the Belmont JFC, the same as Michael Johnson DD.
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I pretty sure Dion was a Northam boy.

The longer this thread goes on the weaker DDs argument gets. Perth’s zone doesn’t have an issue producing talent. All clubs lose their top end talent to the AFL and Perth has produced more AFL draftees than a number of other WAFL clubs.

Perth does have a huge problem retaining their WAFL quality League players though. Part of that is Perths proximity to their country zone and also Perths lack of success over the last 40+ years. It’s not difficult to understand a player accepting equal or more money to play country footy to drive an hour or two to games rather than playing at Perth. Plenty of Perths WAFL quality players also get dragged to successful ammo clubs such as Trinity Aquinas.

Keeping dreaming about getting Albany DD, that’s all it will ever be.

[quote=“Tiger Tales post=232503 userid=2522”]The longer this thread goes on the weaker DDs argument gets. Perth’s zone doesn’t have an issue producing talent. All clubs lose their top end talent to the AFL and Perth has produced more AFL draftees than a number of other WAFL clubs.

Perth does have a huge problem retaining their WAFL quality League players though. Part of that is Perths proximity to their country zone and also Perths lack of success over the last 40+ years. It’s not difficult to understand a player accepting equal or more money to play country footy to drive an hour or two to games rather than playing at Perth. Plenty of Perths WAFL quality players also get dragged to successful ammo clubs such as Trinity Aquinas.

Keeping dreaming about getting Albany DD, that’s all it will ever be.

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Yes you are probably right TT, we can only dream of having a country town of 38,000 and counting. Did you know the Avon teams play 16 a side and have no reserves? The embarrassment of riches you have is exactly that, embarrassing. Yet you continue to be a failure when it comes to winning premierships.

DD pretty sure Dion Woods came from Belmont.

Yes you are probably right TT, we can only dream of having a country town of 38,000 and counting. Did you know the Avon teams play 16 a side and have no reserves? The embarrassment of riches you have is exactly that, embarrassing. Yet you continue to be a failure when it comes to winning premierships.
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Albany is nothing compared to Rockingham, Mandurah and Bunbury and is about the same size as Geraldton, Busselton and Kalgoorlie.

Zones aren’t based on population though, they are based on participation levels. The Great Southern FL only has a 6 team competition that includes Mt Barker and Denmark Walpole. The Avon League has a 7 team competition.

Only Subiaco (10) have won more flags than Claremont (8 ) since I was born. Perth and WCER are the only teams not to have won a flag during my life time so whilst I understand you definitely recognise what failure looks like because you’ve seen it year in and year out for 4 decades, the numbers don’t support your statement that Claremont’s a failure.

Numbers don’t count hey TT? How many 16, 17 and 18 year olds have you got coming through? 50, 60, 70?

Your colts team played Claremont in the GF, you have numbers and talent in your zone.

WA 18s State Squad
Claremont 4 (+ 3 train ons)
Perth 4 (+ 1 train on)
WA 16s State Squad
Claremont 1
Perth 3

Claremont just had 3 players drafted, Perth had 2 drafted.

PSA schools in zone
Claremont 3
Perth 3

I never said numbers don’t count.

And you know your colts will be right up there again year in year out. Ours won’t be. How many league games did your colts players play this year? Out of our colts just one game.

You know about your PSA v ours. 80% of yours are in your zone maybe only 30% of ours are in our zone.

Referring to we probably had more than most in the 80’s and 90’s bro.

[quote=“Tiger Tales post=232503 userid=2522”]The longer this thread goes on the weaker DDs argument gets. Perth’s zone doesn’t have an issue producing talent. All clubs lose their top end talent to the AFL and Perth has produced more AFL draftees than a number of other WAFL clubs.

Perth does have a huge problem retaining their WAFL quality League players though. Part of that is Perths proximity to their country zone and also Perths lack of success over the last 40+ years. It’s not difficult to understand a player accepting equal or more money to play country footy to drive an hour or two to games rather than playing at Perth. Plenty of Perths WAFL quality players also get dragged to successful ammo clubs such as Trinity Aquinas.

Keeping dreaming about getting Albany DD, that’s all it will ever be.

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I think my argument just got a fair bit stronger with support from a veteran journalist. Eat that Tiger.

https://www.codesports.com.au/afl/local-footy/analysis-perth-demons-needs-similar-wafl-recruiting-concessions-as-those-granted-to-west-coast/news-story/9fc754570497ed3fd2ee7d6279aefee4?giftid=xyP2LwVYwc