SINCE Victoria's Mallee region was opened up for settlement, enticing the region's young people to stay and live among the sand hills and dust storms has been a problem.

Yet even as drought accelerates the exodus to the cities, some country kids are bucking the trend. Kane Munro is one of them.

The 26-year-old, who played 18 games with West Coast, grew up on his family's property near Underbool (population 214), 500 kilometres north-west of Melbourne. Now he has given up the bright lights of Perth, returning to the farm and club of his youth.

Although the crowds at Mallee league games are not quite reminiscent of Subiaco, and the Underbool pub pales slightly in comparison to the renowned Cottesloe Beach Hotel, it's a decision he swears he won't regret.

Munro grew up with the modest goal of playing in the Walpeup-Underbool senior team. So rapid was his progress in the juniors, he fulfilled that ambition by his early teens. At 15 he moved to Bendigo for school and played for the Pioneers in the TAC Cup. Blessed with pace and skill, he impressed AFL recruiters, and put on some remarkable displays during rare weekends back home. When 16, he booted nine goals for Walpeup-Underbool in a 1998 final against Hopetoun.

Soon he was relocating to the other side of Australia. Munro was snapped up by West Coast with pick 41 in the 1999 national draft. Among those taken with later selections were Corey Enright (47) and Ryan O'Keefe (56).

Munro initially matched the promise of those now-household names. He made his debut in a Western Derby in late 2000 and in the final round of that season collected 16 possessions against Melbourne. But as the Eagles struggled under Ken Judge, he played only three games the following year. Things improved little when John Worsfold took over, as Munro battled to put extra weight on his slender frame.

Booting three goals in the 2002 elimination final loss to Essendon suggested better times were imminent. A freak shoulder injury, received during a training session, meant it was not so.

Despite some impressive form with Swan Districts in the WAFL, Munro was delisted shortly after the 2003 season ended, with only 18 appearances to his name.

"I got told early on, at round three or four, they were going to give more match time to the younger blokes. I was only 21," he said. "It's a business. They'll be all for you one week and when trade week comes around, or it's time for delistings, they don't want to know you."

Four years later Munro is back on the land, changing the oil in tractors, chasing sheep and praying for rain. He has returned to the Mallee with his English partner Jemma and baby daughter Talia. Jemma took some convincing before making the move.

"She's a Pom, so it's a long way from home," Munro said. "But she wanted to give it a go as well and it's been all good so far."

Booming food prices mean it could yet be a great time to be a farmer. And when it comes to local footy, Munro has timed his homecoming to perfection.

When he headed to Western Australia, Walpeup-Underbool was yet to win a flag since its formation through a merger in 1982. Today the Kangaroos are the reigning Mallee league premiers. Aided by a carload of gun recruits from Adelaide, 360 kilometres away, they lost only one game last year, defeating arch-rival Ouyen United in the grand final.

Munro flew home from Perth for a handful of matches to qualify for the finals, but ruled himself out of the big game due to Talia's birth.

This year, despite losing home-grown star Danny O'Shannessy to Ouyen, where he is the coach, Walpeup-Underbool is again on top. The Adelaide-based players have returned for another dose of the local hospitality. One of the Roos' supporters, Bobby Lester, has dedicated himself to hosting the travelling contingent each weekend.

"We hire a Tarago and they come across on Friday night," said club president Daryl Elliott.

"Bobby opens his house up to them and they can come and go as they please. He'll run them home from the pub or wherever we are."

Before yesterday's match the Kangaroos had lost only one game. Playing mainly as a forward, Munro is beginning to hit top form, the return to grassroots footy having refreshed his interest in the game.

"I gave it away for three years," said Munro. "I was over it and didn't want much to do with footy at all. When I came back here I knew I was going to pull the boots back on because it's part and parcel of going back on the farm. It's a great club here and it's a lot more relaxed and enjoyable."

The Roos are firing off the field as well. Once home to antiquated, iron-clad dressing sheds with creaking floorboards, the Underbool Recreation Reserve now has improved facilities, a testament to the locals' passion.

"If we haven't got football out here we've got nothing," said Elliott. "What do you do if there's no football? It's the whole lifeblood of this community."

Such commitment has seen Walpeup-Underbool outlast many of its foes. Former Mallee league clubs Yaapeet, Brim, Berriwillock-Culgoa and Manangatang have all folded or merged in the past 10 years.

The Roos know their time at the top won't last forever. For now, with the prodigal son back in the fold, they're gunning for a second consecutive flag.

And what would that mean to a man who has played before crowds 200 times larger than Underbool's population? "I'd be stoked," said Munro.

"Country football's a lot different to when the standard gets higher and higher. In the elite levels of football it's like they don't really know how to celebrate."