“Where have all the flowers gone?” Peter Seeger, 1955
Today us Western Australians sing “Where have all the WA mids gone?”
Consider a possible WA state of origin midfield:
Inside mids: Patrick Cripps, Chad Warner and who else? Maybe Trent Rivers and Sam Powell-Pepper.
Outside Mids: Bradley Hill, Jaegar O’Meara Nic Martin, Blake Acres.
Now consider the riches available to the Victorians:
Nick and Josh Daicos, Sam Walsh, Zac Butters, Caleb Serong, Matt Rowell, Josh Kelly, Zac Merritt, Andy Brayshaw, Harry Sheezel, Hugh McCluggage, Christian Petracca, Noah Anderson…The list could go on…: Steele Sidebottom, Scott Pendlebury, Jai Newcomb.
WA would have to combine with South Australia, who have Will Day, Jason Horne-Francis, Jordan Dawson, Conor Rozee, Lachie Neale, Rory Laird and George Hewett, to get close to the Victorians.
You might argue that injuries are to blame: Nat Fyfe, Dominic Sheed, Elliot Yeo, Steven Coniglio. But they are all 30 and above. Admittedly their bodies let them down in the last third of their careers, but the Vics are missing Marcus Bontempelli and Adam Treloar, both of whom would give more run than the WA injured.
You might also answer that this just reflects the relative size of the population of WA ( 2.9 million) SA (1.8 million) and Vic (7 million). Fair enough, it’s hard to argue with that.
It’s just than in the past WA could beat Victoria in State of Origin clashes, and so could SA. Where have the likes of Narkle, Blackwell, Bairstow, Rioli, Peake, Featherby, Cable, Baker, Wiley, Richardson, Montieth, Mainwaring, Lamb, Winmar, Allen, Matera, and Kemp gone?
These guys beat Victorian teams in 1979, 1983, 1984, 1986 and 1991.
Outside of state of origin winners, WA produced class midfielders like Ben Cousins and Daniel Kerr.
Perhaps the plight of the West Coast Eagles is getting me down, but I was looking forward to some relief in a state of origin match up. That looks equally lopsided in the Victorian’s favour. It would be ok if the Dockers were running on WA talent, but Serong, Brayshaw, Reid and Young are eastern staters and better than our local product.
Who’s to blame? Soccer? Basketball? Smart phones? I don’t know, but our midfielders have gone missing and I want them back.
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If you analyze the current WA cricket scene there’s a distinct parallel to the dearth of AFL mid-fielders.
Native sandgropers aren’t as common in the national team as they once were. Marsh and Lillee were prime examples of WA’s ability to punch above its weight in the Test arena. Hughes, Wood, Alderman, Zoehrer…to name a few more.
Sadly, Mitch Marsh and Cameron Green are the only current reps I can readily think of. Bancroft seems to be banished forever and Gilchrist and Mitchell Johnston weren’t born in the state.