West Coast - When will the AFL step in?

[Scotland]

The main push has to be chasing WA players.
Im not sure how many good ones have come up lately to chase, but you would think that they would be similar to SA guys who might want to come home and play for the team they supported growing up.

My own personal observation is that WC havent been aggressive in that space. I will bring up Curtain again, because while he was happy in SA, if WC made a crazy offer of say 1 million a year, it would be something he would have had to seriously think about.

Even though they are from you state, you still have to pay them good coin to get them back. The fact they are from that state just makes them less resistant to move there vs a Victorian guy.

Last year Bolton and Baker came back.

In recent years Freo brought in Clark, Jackson and to a lesser extent O'Meara who came via 6 years at Hawthorn.

We have Kelly from 2019, Cripps from 2012, Yeo from 2013. We had a couple of low level potatoes like SPS and Langdon also but we try to forget about that.

Of those previous trades only Kelly and Jackson were high profile.

I think footy has moved past parochial SA/WA/Vic lines for a large part. We've been talking all year about Oscar Allen joining Brisbane. He's from Perth, grew up supporting WC and is WC captain. He's not moving because he's homesick. The Lions previously attracted Neale, Daniher, Ah Chee and Dunkley. Jack Redden was important for us and is from SA. Etc.

 

[Scotland]

True, but the problem with that system was alot of teams got stuck in the quicksand zone and stayed middle of the table for a decade. Adelaide was such a club for a long while. Didn't have the talent to win a flag, but were talented enough that they never got high picks to get that talent.

That is still the system working though. Adelaide were one of the top teams in the mid 2000s and mid 2010s, same as WC. We beat the Crows in two prelims in 05 and 06 and then they lost a prelim by 5 points in 2012 and a GF in 2017. They aren't Essendon.

 

[delta_magpie]

someone has to be last.. every year

 

[Cleric]

Last year Bolton and Baker came back.

In recent years Freo brought in Clark, Jackson and to a lesser extent O'Meara who came via 6 years at Hawthorn.

We have Kelly from 2019, Cripps from 2012, Yeo from 2013. We had a couple of low level potatoes like SPS and Langdon also but we try to forget about that.

Of those previous trades only Kelly and Jackson were high profile.

I think footy has moved past parochial SA/WA/Vic lines for a large part. We've been talking all year about Oscar Allen joining Brisbane. He's from Perth, grew up supporting WC and is WC captain. He's not moving because he's homesick. The Lions previously attracted Neale, Daniher, Ah Chee and Dunkley. Jack Redden was important for us and is from SA. Etc.

Sure, not every kid goes back to their home state, and there's lots of things that influence that.
WAGS are the number one influence, then money, family, friends and opportunities.

Allen is only leaving WA to get more money. Its his last contract, he has had issues with injuries, and Brisbane are offering him far more money to go there.
If WC had of matched the offer from Brisbane then he stays. Hes not leaving WC because he hates Perth and wants to go home to Qld, so for him the only reason he would leave is for money or opportunities.
If however he was from Victoria you have the added risk factor of him wanting to go back home.

Dangerfield loved his time at the Crows. He was best friends with a heap of the team. He was sitting pretty.
But, his wife was from Geelong as well, and she wanted to have kids, and wanted to do that with her family around her.
Bryce Gibbs was happy at Carlton, but his wife was really doing it hard with their young kids, PND even, and she wanted to come back to Adelaide to have her family support around her.

Neale went to Brisbane to escape the football bubble, and he thought as Brisbane was a rugby city he could get around without the spotlight on him. He had no real family in Adelaide so there wasn't any pull there.