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It's worthy to note the declining indigenous participation in footy in WA being a contributing factor to this, which can/should be addressed by giving Freo and WCE additional NGA spots.

Simpson also said on the radio the other week that the difference between WA and Vic kids entering the system is palpable, which is indeed a direct result of inferior pathways. WA kids are usually one to two years behind the Vic kids in their development, which is why many of them go later in the draft and come on later in their career.

Now that WCE and Freo have full access to their NGA kids, I imagine development pathways will improve, because there was not much incentive before as both clubs would just be developing players for the Vic market. See Lance Collard and Edwards, both went to Saints and Geelong respectively, as we were unable to match.

Now I get this has happened to Vic clubs also(Mac Andrew best example) but clubs in Vic rarely have to worry about homesick players at the pointy end of the draft, especially those from Vic Metro, where the best talents come from more often than not. Plus, as there's far more Vic players in the AFL, there's more opportunity to land those coming home, as well as players from outside Vic more open to moving to Melbourne. That doesn't often happen in reverse.