For god sake, not every player had to come from the recruiting zones, I never said they did.
Players could be traded and if the team that had that zone didn't sign them then they were free to sign with whoever they wanted.
However, if a team wanted a player from their zone, they had first refusal on that player, similar to how Brisbane & Gold Coast still to this day have local zones in which they can sign that player by bypassing the draft
That being said, zoning still landed the Hawks some pretty handy players, Dermott Brereton, Leigh Matthews, Michael Tuck and Kelvin Moore for starters from the country, plus metropolitan locals such as Terry Wallace, Peter Schwab & Robert DiPierdomenico. Pretty handy bunch there.
