AFL Barwon is saddened to hear of the passing of Geelong Football Netball League Life Member, Max Evans.

Max's contribution to local football was through his tireless work and dedication to the North Shore Football Netball Club.

He was the founder of the North Shore Little League in 1962 and was known as the "King of the Kids" for his commitment to junior football.

Max was also heavily involved in the Geelong Football Netball League Interleague program in a number of roles.

Max was rewarded for his service with Life Membership of the GFNL in 2001.

The AFL Barwon Chair, Commission, Geelong FNL President & Board, AFL Barwon Staff and all member clubs extend their deepest sympathy to Max's family and the North Shore Football Netball Club community.

Congratulations to the following players for representing their Leagues as part of AFL Barwon’s Kempe Junior Representative Netball Program!

The girls have been playing in the Barwon Junior Netball Championships and GCNA’s Monday night competition before heading to Association Championships in June.

Bellarine Football Netball League

13 & Under BFNL team:

Scarlotte Benney            (Anglesea)

Scarlett Clarke                 (Geelong Amateur)

Heidi Connor                   (Drysdale)

Macey Dow                     (Geelong Amateur)

Emilia Evans                    (Portarlington)

Arelya Hillier                   (Portarlington)

Gemma Hocking             (Queenscliff)

Sienna McGuiness          (Torquay)

Elise Newey                     (Queenscliff)

Stella Peters                    (Geelong Amateur)

Remy Sliwa                      (Torquay)

Sophie Taylor                  (Geelong Amateur)

Coach: Karen Pole

15 & Under BFNL Champs team:

Ella Brown                       (Ocean Grove)

Annalena Hillier              (Portarlington)

Tae McGillivray               (Anglesea)

Adele Mills                      (Ocean Grove)

Bree Sampson                 (Ocean Grove)

Abhi Sanjeev                   (Ocean Grove)

Bailey Shaw                     (Geelong Amateur)

Harriett Shaw                  (Geelong Amateur)

Hayley Toull                    (Modewarre)

Alexandra Whatley         (Geelong Amateur)

Phoebe Zahl                    (Portarlington)

Co-Coaches: Paula Birch and Taryn Laverty

15 & Under BFNL Reserves team:

Chloe Aspinall                 (Geelong Amateur)

Ava Carson                      (Torquay)

Abby Chapman               (Queenscliff)

Arabella Clarke               (Geelong Amateur)

Alice Coffey                     (Queenscliff)

Anya Dreyer                    (Geelong Amateur)

Coco Hayes                      (Torquay)

Skye Howard                   (Barwon Heads)

Molly Slavinskis              (Barwon Heads)

Caitlin Totton                  (Geelong Amateur)

Coach: Nicole Sadler

17 & Under BFNL team:

Grace Boland                  (Ocean Grove)

Juliet Evans                     (Portarlington)

Madison Foot                  (Drysdale)

Leni Gilbert                     (Torquay)

Chelsea Gillett                 (Barwon Heads)

Poppy Hart                      (Ocean Grove)

Pippi McIntyre                (Barwon Heads)

Emily Quinten                 (Ocean Grove)

Lucy Sampson                 (Ocean Grove)

Louise Shaw                    (Geelong Amateur)

Sienna Stewart                (Portarlington)

Jade Wilson                     (Drysdale)

Coach: Leah Wilson

Geelong Football Netball League

13 & Under GFNL team:

Maya Corrigan                (South Barwon)

Olivia Edwards                (Colac)

Jemma Grenfell              (St Mary's)

Stevie Hepburn               (South Barwon)

Lyola Hill                          (Newtown & Chilwell)

Jemima Hood                  (St Joseph's)

Georgia Marles               (St Marys)

Meg Muhor                     (Newtown & Chilwell)

Addison Russell               (Colac)

Eadie Scheelings             (St Joseph's)

Lily Sherman                   (South Barwon)

Macey Veitch                  (Newtown & Chilwell)

Coach: Kirsten Hood

15 & Under GFNL Champs team:

Melissa Allan                   (Geelong West)

Remi Butcher                  (St Mary's)

Eliza Cullen                      (St Mary's)

Isabella Gill                      (Lara)

Georgia Hannagan          (Newtown & Chilwell)

Leni Hepburn                  (South Barwon)

Indi Madden                   (St Joseph's)

Evie McKenzie                 (Geelong West)

Sahirah Smith                  (Geelong West)

Sophie Sprunt                 (St Joseph's)

Coach: Kirsten Stramacchia

15 & Under GFNL Reserves team:

Piper Calnon                   (Geelong West)

Niamh Drennan              (Geelong West)

Lexie Edwards                 (Lara)

Zara Kendall                    (Geelong West)

Liana Loney                     (Geelong West)

Alicia McDonald              (St Joseph's)

Billi Mooney                    (Newtown & Chilwell)

Isabella Scukovic             (South Barwon)

Izzy Spence                      (Colac)

Teliah Tkaczuk                (Geelong West)

Co-Coaches: Zarah Barnett and Marney McRandall

17 & Under GFNL team:

Jorja Cookson                  (Lara)

Lucy Grapsas                   (St Mary's)

Elly Hannam                    (St Joseph's)

Leni Hassett                    (Lara)

Amali Hill                         (Newtown & Chilwell)

Evie Moran                      (Geelong West)

Alyssia Smith                   (Geelong West)

Jade Tardio                      (Geelong West)

Ruby Wilson                    (St Albans)

Coach: Lisa Van Halen

Kempe Engineering will celebrate their 21^st year of supporting Junior Football and Netball in 2023, continuing their partnership with AFL Barwon for a further two seasons.

Kempe Engineering have been strong advocates for Junior Football and Netball in the Barwon region with there being a clear association between Kempe and Junior Sport.

The Read the Play program has also been heavily supported by Kempe Engineering. This youth mental health awareness program has played a significant role in the Barwon region for our clubs, players, and parents which we are grateful for Kempe’s involvement.

The partnership agreement for 2023 and 2024 sees Kempe Engineering have branding rights on Under 14 and Under 16 Football jumpers, all male and mixed junior footballs, and branding on all junior netball bibs.

AFL Barwon Region General Manager, Edward Wilson quoted “We're incredibly humbled by the continued support of this partnership, benefitting our community at large”.

“To have a trusted partner, with whom delivers immense value to our local Clubs and community, is an extremely important attribute of any partnership for AFL Barwon”.

AFL Barwon Commercial Partnerships and Communications Manager, Sean Atkinson stated,

”We are so fortunate to have supporters of junior sport in our region like Kempe Engineering. We are very thankful of Grant Kempe and Dave Langley for their continual support of our junior footballers and netballers”.

“The partnership with Kempe Engineering is something we strongly value at AFL Barwon and we look forward to continuing our connection for a long time”.

About Kempe Engineering

Kempe is a leading world class specialist engineering company providing maintenance, modernisation and process equipment products and services. Their purpose is to work in long term relationships to develop and add value to their clients’ capital assets in a flexible and collaborative manner. They provide custom designed engineering solutions to suit your specific needs supported by our in-house global delivery model which includes emerging market sourcing.

The AFL has launched a free webinar series to help local community football club volunteers to plan for success in season 2023.

The all-new ‘AFL ClubHelp Webinar Series’ will be delivered across eight 45-minute sessions in February and March. Content has been designed based on feedback and topics from a recent survey with community club volunteers around Australia.

2023 AFL ClubHelp Webinar Series – schedule and topics:

All sessions will run from 7:15pm – 8:00pm AEDT.

As an incentive and to reward club volunteers who register and join the sessions, prizes totalling $10,000 in value are on offer. Local clubs and club volunteers can share in over $10,000 in cash prizes just for signing up and joining the webinars.

To register for the series and view competition Ts&Cs, visit the webinar page on play.afl/clubhelp

AFL National Community Club and Volunteer Lead, Paul Milo, said: “The AFL ClubHelp Webinar Series has been designed specifically for volunteers and administrators who help drive their community football clubs and play a huge role in ensuring local football thrives.

“In recent years, through the COVID pandemic, the burden on volunteers has increased and we are mindful that many people around the country volunteer a huge amount of their own time for the benefit of their local football clubs and communities, which is why the webinar series has been developed to provide guidance for volunteers and administrators.

“Community football is the heartbeat of so many towns and communities across Australia, so it’s important the people behind running local clubs receive the support they need.

“I encourage volunteers across the country to sign up to any of the sessions they feel they could benefit from.”

Toyota AFL ClubHelp Website

The new & improved Toyota AFL ClubHelp Website - https://www.play.afl/clubhelp is now operational. The AFL has overhauled the site to significantly improve the user experience for club volunteers, using feedback from community football volunteers as guidance.

Tips, guides, and policies across a range of areas that local clubs focus on can be found via 40 pages on the site compared to well over 200 on the old site. A sub-heading menu has also been added to help club volunteers go directly to what they are looking for.

AFL support for community football

A key priority for the AFL is ensuring that community football, which is the foundation of our game, bounces back and thrives after all the challenges we’ve faced over the past few years

The AFL has enshrined an increased minimum level of annual funding in community football which will result in an immediate injection of $17m investment in the grassroots game in 2023 - a massive increase from $50m in 2022 to $67m in 2023. More information is available here.