Let me offer some disclosure so you know my mind set. I am not a fan of recruiting.
For your personal trophy case and perhaps your coaching resumé, consolidating the best players in your area as soon as possible might seem like a good idea.
For the development of the age group, I think early consolidation is damaging to everybody involved including the players who are being consolidated.
In many cases, consolidating players before their U12 year does nothing for anybody other than their coach. Not all cases, but many.
A coach has a decent U8 team. He sees his friend has a son on a neighbouring town's team and the boy is decent. "Hmm...." he thinks to himself and when the season ends, he invites his pal over for a
