THE CRAB has become a common feature of the modern AFL game.

He’s the player who insists on moving the ball sideways across the ground to the frustration of the football traditionalist but to the delight of the fantasy stats team coach.

The crab is also synonymous with the Mandurah region – reputedly the fastest growing urban centre in Australia, located just an hour’s drive south of Perth.

The local restaurants do a roaring trade in Blue Manna Crabs and the annual Crab Fest attracts crowds of up to 100,000.

But the Mandurah region is an important breeding ground for another highly valued species – the rookie AFL player.

The WA Football Commission recognised the growth potential of the region a decade ago when it introduced the Peel Thunder into the WAFL.

Peel has already contributed more than a dozen players to AFL ranks, including Daniel Wells, Scott Gumbleton and Kyle Reimers.

With the resources boom further fuelling the population growth in Mandurah, every AFL recruiter will have this township on their radar over the next five to 10 years.

So as the South Mandurah Falcons prepare to take on their cross-town rivals, the Mandurah Mustangs, it’s not so surprising to see Fremantle’s star midfielder Josh Carr relaxing on the hill with girlfriend Karolina.

Carr has no direct link with either club or the township, having played his junior football in the central wheat belt town of Goomalling.

But Fremantle has always had a strong commitment to grassroots community involvement which has helped it successfully carve out an identity with West Australian schoolkids who otherwise would have been marked at birth as West Coast Eagles’ supporters.

Carr doing the rounds on a Sunday afternoon in Mandurah is a reminder to the locals that Fremantle understands the importance of the region.

Legend has it that South Mandurah was actually formed by a group of players who broke away from the Mandurah Football Club because they weren’t good enough to get a regular game. Falcons’ President Bill Roseveare happily admits that his side is the “bastard child” of Mandurah.

But the tables have turned with South Mandurah now a dominant force in the Peel Football League; premiers in 2006, runner-up in 2007 and opening the 2008 season with four straight wins including a 70-point thumping of Mandurah in round one. Roseaveare cheekily laments “it should have been more.”

While there is no love lost between these two sides, they came together at the start of this derby clash to pay their respects to former Falcons’ player Jay Wragg, who was tragically killed in a brutal assault in March. Nicknamed “Reffa” because when he came to the club he was “as skinny as a refugee”, Wragg spent 16 years with the Falcons, winning two best and fairest awards.

The football community recently rallied to raise funds for Wragg’s young family at an event featuring Dockers’ coach Mark Harvey, Matthew Carr, Eagle Daniel Kerr and Footscray legend Doug Hawkins.

Today Wragg is remembered by his mates with a makeshift shade-cloth bar in the outer, simply named “Reffa’s Bar”.

This community is still grieving his loss.

Carr respectfully joins the players and officials as they mark a minute’s silence at the start of the game before returning to the hill to chat with locals and sign a steady stream of autographs for young fans.

He reminisces on his own youth in Goomalling and the excitement he got when WAFL stars would come to visit – “That was the highlight of our week, we just loved it. So I know what some of the kids are feeling now and it’s great to be a part of that.”

As the Falcons begin to surge away from the Mustangs, Carr reflects on what AFL players get out of being involved with the Community Football Weekend.

“This takes me back to my younger days, going to the country football in Goomalling with all the cars parked around the oval and they kick a goal and the horns are tooting.

“Playing footy means just as much to these guys as it does for us to be running out in front of 40,000 people.

“Just coming here and just being normal, doing what everyone else is doing, sitting on the hill, enjoying what country football is about. It reminds you why you actually play the game.”