Perth shift a hard sell
West Coast and Fremantle will find it increasingly difficult to convince players with young families to move to Perth to play football, according to Collingwood recruit Travis Varcoe.
Varcoe moved to Collingwood after 138 games and two premierships with Geelong. He was one of 29 players to move clubs during the free agency and trade period but none of them joined the Dockers or Eagles.
West Coast targeted Varcoe as a player capable of adding pace to their midfield, but he decided to remain in Victoria.
The Dockers attempted to recruit Melbourne's James Frawley, but he also stayed in Victoria and signed with Hawthorn.
Richmond and Sydney were the only other clubs that didn't sign a player during the free agent or trade period, but the AFL banned the Swans from adding to their list while their cost of living allowance is phased out.
Varcoe said West Coast made him an attractive offer but he wasn't prepared to move his partner and children to Perth. He said that would be a factor for other players.
"The option is there but there's a lot more that comes into consideration," Varcoe told _The West Australian _.
"I went through all the nitty gritty stuff. There were some good parts of it that I don't think any other club can offer.
"But it's not as easy as if you're by yourself. If you're by yourself and don't have a family or don't have a partner, it probably changes your thinking.
"I'm from Adelaide, my partner is from Newcastle and we both live in Geelong. We don't have the luxury of having our parents around to give us a chop out every now and then.
"A move like that while having such a young family left a lot of undecided things there that we couldn't nut out. The best thing for myself and my family was to stay in Melbourne."
The Magpies yesterday unveiled Varcoe, former North Melbourne midfielder Levi Greenwood and Brisbane recruit Jack Crisp.
Their arrival followed the departure of premiership stars Dayne Beams and Heritier Lumumba to Brisbane and Melbourne. The Magpies will also lose retired duo Nick Maxwell and Luke Ball next year.
But exciting teenager Darcy Moore will join the club under the father-son rule and they have pick five in the draft.
They also hope last year's top-10 picks Nathan Freeman and Matt Scharenberg will play more after injury-plagued seasons.
Coach Nathan Buckley said the future remained bright.
"We believe that we're on a path, we're on a journey," he said.
"Sometimes people don't want to be on the bus any more.
"That's fine. We'll stop and they can get off and we'll keep going to the destination that we're heading to.
"We've got a young, exciting list and we've got an exciting period in front of us. We're looking forward to attacking that."
