The sad decline and seemingly inevitable demise of the VFL should sound a loud and clear warning to WA football.

The Black Swans were brilliant on Saturday when they ended a 113-year drought for West Australian State teams in Melbourne.

They were too strong, too invested in success and simply too good for a Victorian team that became the first to ever lose to a WA touring team.

It was a triumph for the WAFL and the 23 players and coaching panel who gelled so superbly into a highly motivated unit.

And there was not a skerrick of the “player-first” nonsense that the myopic WA Football Commission wants to introduce to the revamped colts competition next year.

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“To win big games of footy you have to make your team-mates better, not just yourselves,” WA coach Michael Broadbridge said in a snapshot of WA’s approach to making history.

Play Video We gathered five footy experts to select their WA State of Origin side The West Australian Video We gathered five footy experts to select their WA State of Origin side

That attitude could not provide a starker contrast to the WAFC’s plans for the colts with development coach Tony Micale – a four-time WAFL premiership coach, mind you – recently spouting the risible line: “In my opinion, if you develop the individual, the team-winning aspect tends to look after itself”.

Victoria had 23 individuals on Saturday. Not one looked like playing in a winning team and not one came out of the match with his reputation enhanced.

But the game was crucial for shining a spotlight on much more than just the result.

It revealed that the life has been sucked out of the VFL and that football is much the poorer for the shell that remains.

Barely 500 spectators showed up at the boutique North Port Oval in Port Melbourne, the recipient of $8 million in redevelopment money only a year or two ago, while there was just a handful of Victorian officials at the pre and post-match functions.

There was no publicity for the State match in Melbourne, not a word of news or comment in the mainstream media.

Play Video Leroy Jetta finishes off a nice WA transition against Victoria. The West Australian Video Leroy Jetta finishes off a nice WA transition against Victoria.

And it was simply embarrassing to see the Victorian players turn up to the official function in their civvies – T-shirts and jeans – while their uniformed conquerors proudly displayed the black and gold colours of their State.

Little things can say a lot and playing and presenting as a rabble tells you that Victorian club footy is in dire straits.

The reasons are obvious.

The growth of the national competition has overwhelmed a league competition that started life as the Victorian Football Association in 1877 but now has little identity, pride or role other than as a training ground for fringe AFL players.

It is purely player-first – AFL reserves players that is – and as a result is on its death bed as a league.

Sure, there are standalone clubs like Port Melbourne but the once-mighty Borough is riddled with debt, had to ask its players to forego their match payments in the opening round this season and might not be able to withstand a further financial buffeting.

Play Video South Fremantle star gets going for WA against Victoria. The West Australian Video South Fremantle star gets going for WA against Victoria.

Having a competition with a major focus being the preparation of AFL fringe players means that traditional elements like winning games and flags, producing and developing young talent and maintaining the decades of heritage that underpin any great institution become irrelevant.

And when relevance is lost, what reason is there to exist?

That is the warning for the WAFC and WA footy.

The WAFL must be protected and defended so that it can maintain its relevance and with that its inherent value as a producer and preparer of talent and strong competition in its own right.

Sure, it is a second tier league but that does not mean it should be treated as a second-class citizen.

The victorious Black Swans deserve a better legacy than that.

Play Video Kristian Caporn reeled in a remarkable grab on the weekend The West Australian Video Kristian Caporn reeled in a remarkable grab on the weekend

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Tuesday hero: Michael Broadbridge took the helm of the State team after a frustrating three seasons at Claremont and responded with one of the great coaching feats in WA football history. His ability to get the Black Swans to gel and respond to his urging to “Be bold” helped end their 113-year drought in Melbourne and vindicated the WAFC decision to appoint him to the State job last year.

Broadbridge won under 18 championships as player and coach, played State footy during league stints at East Fremantle and Swan Districts, was an assistant at Collingwood, West Coast and Fremantle and took the Tigers into the finals.

Yet it is unlikely that he has had a better day in football than at Port Melbourne on Saturday.