why is VICTORIA, the AFL and Australia's premier football state ?

Dubya shite stirring again .... it would go like this ... Victoria, population 6 million = 1 draftee for ever 150,000 residents, SA population 1.5 million = one draftee for every 100,000 residents ... Tassie population 500,000 = one per 250,000 ... WA with 1 per 200,000.

Your figures for NSW and Qld were a little devious given that Gold Coast and GWS were able to recruit several players from NSW, ACT and Qld directly. Surprised none from NT, but I'd reckon most Territorean players would head to Adelaide or Melbourne to 'get noticed' and thus be recruited from local clubs.

So as much as it pains me, this years winner is South Australia!! :-)

The strange thing here is, I understand the question fine, but the answers baffle me. Regardless, I'll press on.

The reason why Victoria is the premier AFL state is that this is the womb,cradle and kindergarten where it was born and raised. Is it any wonder then that the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree ? Look at the history of the SANFL & WAFL. SAFL was founded after VFL,and WAFL was founded after SAFL. Simple progression.

Another historical reason why football took time to migrate north is, believe it or not, schools. NSW and QLD had private schools before the other colonies,as such their ties to UK were stronger. Private schools played,you guessed it, Rugby. Aussie rules was looked down upon by those colonies because anything "Australian" couldn't be as good as anything British.

So for the time being, Victoria will remain the heart of AFL, just as the Vatican will be the heart of Catholicism, or New Orleans the heart of Jazz.

I hope the history lesson was useful to you.

Victoria is the heartland - after all the game was invented there - but there have been many champions from SA and WA that have come over the years.

With the most interest in the game, it's natural enough that the Vics would have the most teams to recruit from - however this does NOT mean that the players originated in Victoria, but were drafted from a Victorian team.

Take for instance newly drafted Geelong man Orren Stephenson. He is NOT a Victorian, and isn't in fact an Aussie Rules Football player from beginning. He is in fact, a New South Welsh code hopper - that's right - he started as a rugby league player, and it was only a talk with Riverina Football coach Phil Davis (of the Mangoplah-Cookardinia United Goannas), that got him into playing the great game of Aussie Rules- and a love affair with it started, when he joined the Goannas as a junior. He was presumably drafted from North Ballarat, since he eventually moved down there and played in the VFL.

As for NSW not producing players - sure compared to Victoria, SA, WA we haven't done a lot - but we have provided players like Paul Kelly, The Danihers, Billy Brownless, Ryan Houlihan, Matthew Suckling, Isaac Smith, Luke Breust, Paul Hawke, Cameron Mooney, Heath Mooney and Wayne Carey (and by birth Setanta O'hAilpin). With the new GWS Franchise, we'll see more NSW-ACT players being looked at, but I think the top draft pics will be Vic grown for now.

Because the junior football programs in other states aren't as well developed or regarded as they are in Victoria. Therefore I would induct that some draftees that have grown up in other states have moved to Victoria for a better chance of being drafted

Dear Head Spin Doctor,

Thank you for your Q but in a state which for 120 odd years developed & produced 95% of its VFL players, it now finds itself 30 years on developing and producing only 41.4% of 2010 draftees, across 3 drafts.

On percentages, Victoria is losing ground at a rate of knots - 95% to 41.4% in 30 years !

The draft you refer to here is only one of three, with the preseason and rookie drafts due on Dec.13. In last years rookie draft the split was Vic 17, SA 13, WA 13, QLD 1 + 7 locals to Suns, NSW/ACT 7, Tas 2 & I'nat 1. Had your Q. been correctly addressed at the "development and producing" level last year, the above stats from the 2010 AFL Annual Report would have shown the Vic. contribution as just 28% from the state that boasts 55.5% of the AFL clubs.

You gave us a lesson on spin doctors recently on the Q re "the worst captain" and you have now done the same thing here by taking the most irrelevant draft to your Q on "develop & produce" and building your case on that. I would love to see this Q raised in 5 years time when the massive increases of the past few years in Junior & Youth participation in other states feeds into the senior ranks.

But for the present, with Victoria going backwards on AFL stats, your Super-Spin on this one has, if nothing else, brightened up my Friday night ! Good try mate !

Edit - BQ. - No sport survives at the elite level without a feeder stream of players coming up through the ranks and no code survives without public support at all levels. The AFL has spent countless $Millions on both aspects, particularly in Qld & NSW yet while every stat in the book shows Aussie Rules in front in both states there are still a few who have their heads in the sand and still say both states are RL states.

To move forward we have to educate our own first to remove the false negativity of their comments then encourage more support at all levels, particularly the local club and junior levels, and if possible get their involvement. I'm over 60, but 3 times this year I got the best spot on the ground waving flags at one end due to Ump shortages for junior games. MY MESSAGE - Put a bit back into the Code that gives you so much pleasure, excitement -- add satisfaction, it's well worth the effort !

everyone's got it nailed on the head, and might i add gold coast and gws would have been drafting vics for the sake of being able to get actual players that can play footy since their regions tend to produce rugby players and not AFL players (they cant go round drafting rugby players to join their expansion clubs lol). As well as this, 10 of the AFL's 18 clubs are Victorian, and in the spirit of avoiding homesickness and adjustment problems, the Victorian clubs would have liked to draft Victorian players. what else can anyone say? this question was kinda silly.

Don't you love a bit of controversy during the off season.

Have to agree with Quandary on this one. You have to consider all aspects...not just the 41 Victorian draftees.

Plus...Ray had a good point about State Of Origin too.

why cant other states develop and produce players?? are you serious or have you been into the christmas plonk a little early., i can remember year after year after year, raiders and plunderers from victoria incessantly raiding interstate clubs. go through any club you care to name and take out the interstate players from whichever era you care to name. . ii must say i also agree with the previous. i believe the real reason state of origin was stopped was because vics hate losing., and why is the current irish = aussie game coming under fire. the irish won.

Maybe because in both Queensland and NSW we have other football codes that both outdraw AFL games in these states.

I also seem to remember that State of Origin stopped in the AFL because the other states kept beating the Vics.