exclusive
WAFL clubs welcome zoning review though argue there is more to it than just raw numbers

WAFL clubs argue any review into metropolitan and country recruiting zones must be backed by data and a big-picture discussion on the overall health of the sport. The clubs are desperate to protect their “patches” and many will argue for more access to growth areas as they believe recent zoning tweaks have not improved junior numbers. Others believe in left-field thinking - with one suggesting a country “draft” - and more detailed demographic data, including catchment areas for PSA schools, which WA Football says it will access. New WA Football chair Ian Callahan forecast “major change” to WAFL recruiting zones, with clubs expected to be presented with options for a shake-up as early as mid-season, in an exclusive interview with The West Australian. Callahan said the effect of WA’s rapidly growing population on metropolitan zones would be one of the organisation’s major focus points and nothing would be off the table, including a radical redrawing of WAFL club’s traditional country zones. But West Perth CEO Joe McCarthy said it required more “than changing dotted lines because someone will be worse off and someone will be better off”. “It’s cyclical. You could have a zone that produces some great players over a four or five-year period that sets up a club for sustained success and another zone that just drops off for whatever reason,” he told The West Australian. “We need to think laterally. For example, could we do a draft in the country?” West Perth’s metropolitan zone stretches from Hillarys to Two Rocks and east through Wanneroo, Joondalup and Pinjar while its country catchment takes in the Wheatbelt from Southern Cross in the east, Hyden in the south, Corrigin in the west and Nukarni in the north to Merredin, Pingelly and Wyalkatchem. “For the long-term future of the WAFL, the comp that we all love that we want to see stay around forever, I am always open to anything as long as it is fair and equitable to all clubs,” McCarthy said. “At the moment, from a zone perspective, it’s not fair. “We need to look at how in 20 years will the competition be shaped and how will the zones shape it? And how can we use the zones or draftees to create equalisation measures that are very fair?” McCarthy suggested they could even look at dropping metropolitan zones altogether and ensuring the bigger junior clubs were more evenly shared. “There might by 10-15 clubs in Perth metro area that you could call classification one clubs with over 800 players registered. What we should be doing is spreading those clubs to make sure there is an even share,” he said. “You look at that and might ask the question: Do you need junior zones or should you be making sure there is not one club that has say three cat one clubs where another doesn’t have any?” Peel Thunder CEO Paul Lekias said the priority should be to establish “a proper hierarchy around footy in Western Australia”. “We know the AFL sits at the top but then is the WAFL still the most important product below that? We probably need some agreement on that. And that would happen with conversations about the Perth footy league and country footy,” Lekias said. “The challenge we face is trying to get crowds to the WAFL. Finding the right times and getting our fixturing coordinated across Western Australia would be a good start I reckon.” Peel is the only WAFL club whose metropolitan and country zone is connected geographically, from Rockingham in the north to Capel in the south, skirting around Bunbury. “We do a lot of work to make sure the connection with our south west clubs is strong, but at the same time, while we are all super protective of our patches we just want the best players playing in the WAFL. That is first and foremost,” Lekias said. “There is competition from the dollars that get offered by country clubs and in the Perth Footy League it’s the same, but if we can simplify that then we are all for it. “It is not about any one club in particular it is what is in the best interests of the competition and Peel are certainly supportive of that.” South Fremantle’s metropolitan zone starts at the north tip of Fremantle, takes in Armadale in the east and Keysbrook in the south while it has the Gascoyne region as well as Upper Great Southern to draw on. “We face some challenges in Upper Great Southern around diminishing population where young people are leaving farms and coming up to Perth to work,” Cameron Britt said. “We know we are confronting some challenges in the future just around access to population. You can’t have players without population. We are acutely aware of that and open to considering how we could benefit from a country review. “I don’t mean lose anything, but gain some additional population centres through any carve up. “There are winners and losers, clearly, out of a country zone review. “I think we are in the conversation that we need to consider what the future holds for our, for want of a better term, supply chain of talent in our country regions.” He said their metropolitan zone was “working class, blue collar, hard and gritty”. “That is not a criticism, that is very much our port city DNA,” he said. “We have less of an immediate concern. I fully understand and recognise a club like Perth has been talking about what they believe to be their comparative disadvantage to other clubs based on the demographics and population of those zones. “They are a pretty big piece of work and there needs to be a pretty wide stakeholder consultation.” East Fremantle’s metropolitan zone runs east from its base through Melville, Bull Creek, Leeming, Cannington, to add to its celebrated Mid West country catchment, that has produced some great WAFL and AFL talent including Patrick Cripps, Josh Kennedy, Harry Taylor and Andrew Lockyer. Sharks’ CEO Adrian Bromage said they would “push pretty strongly to maintain what we have got”. “I’d like to think we nurture our zones pretty well. Both metro and country. We are really comfortable with what we have got. We have a strong record of recruiting and looking after our players,” he said. “We have a lot of plans afoot about what we can do to strengthen those links – now that we are back at East Fremantle Oval – to get our metro zones and junior footy clubs more involved with our footy club with how they can come and use our facilities. That is going to be a really strong push for us this year. “In the Mid West, it’s how we can leverage our strong resources and assets up there. We have Harry Taylor, Andrew Lockyer and the Cripps connection. “We really want to put some extra resources in to really nurture that zone. “We are really comfortable with where we sit. But I also understand that other WAFL clubs see the need to push some change. “There is probably recognition that Claremont and East Fremantle have got quite strong metro zones. “In Perth metro, I can see why there is a big corridor push towards the north and probably the south. As that happens it is only natural that zones do change but we would be very reluctant to give up some of the strong relationships that we have built with our strong junior clubs.” East Perth CEO Dean Turner said a recent tweak to metropolitan zones had not helped the club. “They probably looked at the top line and purely at data and the number of kids,” Turner said. Their metropolitan strength is in Mt Hawthorn, Mount Lawley and Coolbinia, while their country zone includes Busselton, Dunsborough and Margaret River. “About 50 per cent of our colts are from that region That is different to most other clubs who are probably more like 70-30 metro to regions,” Turner said. “I like zoning because it is good for clubs. It builds that connection with your community. You can build that asset. “It’s got to be a win-win. A win for the clubs and a win for the zones because a successful zone will force clubs to put the work in. “But one of the hardest things about zoning, we don’t look at the schools enough. “If we looked after all our juniors and we controlled the schools program, that would be so much better. You could put all your efforts into the schools, get more kids participating, get more kids playing for their district and I am absolutely certain if you built the numbers you would see the numbers coming through.” “We put an enormous amount of work into our zones, from the Great Southern to the Kimberley and metro and we feel like we get the benefit from that,” Claremont CEO Darcy Coffey said. “We have the highest percentage of home-grown kids. Has it resulted in league flags (in recent times)? Probably not. But it has helped us become a true community club which is part of our strategic direction.” He said the metro zone might have been productive, but it was “landlocked”. “Opportunities for growth there are probably limited,” Coffey said. “I am not grizzling. But we don’t have a huge growth corridor. There is a bit of rezoning through Scarborough and Doubleview and maybe Wembley Downs but for a lot of the rest of it I can’t see too much urban infill happening. “In terms of growth and population numbers, we probably don’t have heaps of room to move. But we are not complaining about that. It’s just a fact. “You want the best possible comp you can get. Zoning is one part of it. You can’t focus in on zoning and say this is going to make our competition better. “Everything needs to be done in unison. We need to make sure our club environments are the best they can be, we need to make sure our resourcing for all our zones and what are doing in our community is at its best level. “At a base level there should be at least minimum standards on how we engage with our zones and maybe the resourcing is linked or based on what your needs are.” Swan Districts chair Peter Hodyl said zones were reviewed on a regular basis. “What they need to do is collect the right data. That includes data from the PSA Schools. Assumptions lead to an imbalanced outcome,” Hodyl said. The Swans’ country zone takes in the Pilbara and a small part of Bunbury. “We only have the three Bunbury-based teams being South Bunbury, Bunbury and Carey Park,” he said. “Previously Swans had the South West Football League which included Margaret River, Donnybrook, Collie, Harvey Brunswick, Busselton and others so our zone has already been significantly diluted. “We welcome a review but this must be done very carefully and all stakeholders need to be engaged and supported. Changes just to suit some stakeholders won’t take into account impact on others.” Subiaco holds Kalgoorlie and Esperance, which it picked up from West Perth in the 2000s, and a metropolitan zone that expands from Sorrento on the coast out through Warwick, Greenwood, Marangaroo to Ghangara. “We have had great success with it in a number of areas, particularly in our regional zones – Kalgoorlie, Esperance, but it’s been a collective effort across the club to service these zones,” Lions president Russell Smith said. “We don’t just sit there and look to try and glean as much talent from there as we can and say ‘Thank you very much’. “We have been investing for many years: time, money, people, our resources, our marketing, building relationships on the ground. “Wherever the zones go, we really need an agreement on what does good look like when you are servicing a zone. “That would really go a long way to put our best foot forward to get the most out of them. “Zones are something we should consistently be tweaking, consistently be looking at the numbers and how they are performing. “Not just participation rates and saturation but with the talent coming through and have it as an evolving strategy. “It is not something everyone is always going to be happy with but as a collective, we need to come together and try and do what’s best. “Let’s think blue skies. Imagine if we started everything again, what could this look like? “If anything getting the clubs together to talk about the future of the competition and the future of football is a very, very good thing.”

exclusive
WAFL clubs welcome zoning review though argue there is more to it than just raw numbers

Everyday Digital

$8 per week

Everyday Digital + Weekend Papers

$10 per week

The West Australian exclusiveWAFL clubs welcome zoning review though argue there is more to it than just raw numbers

Everyday Digital

$8 per week

Everyday Digital + Weekend Papers

$10 per week

exclusive
WAFL clubs welcome zoning review though argue there is more to it than just raw numbers