Below is a list of the full 2021 squad, ordered by home states (I think these are correct), so that's 19 WA players, 16 Vic, 6 SA and Moose from Tasmania.
I put asterisks on players who, by my reckoning, are the best current players or will be in the near future as I see it (just my opinion, and I'm only using these numbers to illustrate a general point - not wishing to argue over individual players). What is a bit concerning is that of the players asterisked, 11 are Vics, 8 from WA, 3 from SA, plus Moose. So if that's the case, there are 15 interstate and 8 WA players in that 'best players' group. The rebuilding midfield is very Vic-focused - Darcy, Brayshaw, Serong, plus Switta may play more midfield (then there was that bloke Que Cerra Cerra). When you think about the future of the club, it's often interstate players that get mentioned - Young, Cox, Frederick, Treacy, etc plus Ryan is a stalwart but still only 25. Yes there are young WA players to talk about like Chapman, Henry, Walker and others but they seem like a minority.
My point is - interstate player retention must be a big focus at the club, with this strategy of recruiting so many interstate players. Player retention has mostly been very good over the years, but there's a lot of interstate players to hang onto here.
WA
* 2 Griffin Logue
6 Reece Conca
* 7 Nat Fyfe (c)
9 Blake Acres
* 10 Michael Walters
* 14 Nathan Wilson
15 Ethan Hughes
19 Connor Blakely
21 Joel Hamling
* 23 Liam Henry
* 27 Heath Chapman
30 Nathan O'Driscoll
* 31 Brandon Walker
32 Stephen Hill
33 Travis Colyer
34 Joel Western
* 37 Rory Lobb
38 Tobe Watson
41 Bailey Banfield
Victoria
1 Sam Sturt
* 3 Caleb Serong
* 4 Sean Darcy
5 Adam Cerra
* 8 Andrew Brayshaw (Vic raised)
* 13 Luke Ryan
* 16 David Mundy
17 Brett Bewley
* 18 Darcy Tucker
* 20 Matt Taberner
22 Lloyd Meek
* 26 Hayden Young
* 28 Lachie Schultz
* 35 Josh Treacy
* 39 Sam Switkowski
44 Taylin Duman
SA
* 11 James Aish
12 Mitch Crowden
29 Luke Valente
* 36 Brennan Cox
42 Stefan Giro
* 43 Michael Frederick
Tas
* 25 Alex Pearce
