As we bring the football and netball season to a close, we want to take a moment to say a big thank you to everyone who made it possible.

To our dedicated clubs, participants, volunteers, officials, spectators, and generous partners – your passion and support have been the driving force behind another fantastic season.

It’s been incredible to see our community come together, week in and week out, to celebrate the games we all love. From the sidelines to the courts and fields, every effort has contributed to the success of this season.

We can’t wait to do it all again next year. Until then, thank you for being part of the AFL Barwon community!

AFL Barwon are pleased to announce that the 17th-19th February 2025, will represent a revamped pre-season “GamePlan” engagement, now the “Club Education Week”. 

AFL Barwon has been conscious of taking on feedback from recent GamePlan engagements, to ensure the pre-season education and support of all Clubs evolves. 

The evenings of February 17-19 will include webinars hosted by AFL Barwon on the following topics, but not limited too: 

• Football Match Day Operations; 

• Netball Match Day Operations; 

• PlayHQ Training for Football & Netball 

• CCSP Seminar; 

• Football Umpiring; 

• Junior Football; and 

• Club Development sessions. 

More information will be provided in January 2025 on session timings and a face-to-face engagement in March, to build on the Club Education Week.  

We are looking forward to delivering this revamped engagement in 2025. 

The AFL Barwon team will be enjoying a break over the Christmas period, with the office closed from 5pm Friday 20th December and re-opening on Monday 13th January.

Pleasee note - during this time, the Barwon Bulletin will have no editions published.

An AFL Victoria Game Development Officer is primarily responsible for conducting general Australian Football game development programs within the school and community environments. Game Development Officers play a key role in growing AFL participation through the delivery of AFL programming to children.

The Coach Developer will be responsible for increasing the quality of community football coaching environments and the capacity of community coaches. The Coach Developer will educate & develop coaches through AFL Victoria content which shall be delivered to community coaches to create behavioural change consistent with the National Coaching strategy.

AFL VIC Coach Developers aim to deliver coach learning methods (coach education, facilitation, assessing, mentoring and reflection) with club coaches within their coaching context at club level. Trained coach developers will work with clubs and club coaches to identify individual performance and learning needs, while targeting whole-club coaching development of coaches within participating clubs. Coaching behavioural change and creating a ‘player centred’ environment are key focuses of Coach Developers.

AFL Victoria are leading the annual Regional Satisfaction Survey and we invite all Clubs to submit a response of feedback to enable AFL Barwon & AFL Victoria to adequately prepare for 2025. 

Your time and comments are greatly appreciated, and you can complete the Survey via the link below: 

AFL Victoria Regional Satisfaction Survey 

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ON PLAY HQ

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ON PLAY HQ

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ON PLAY HQ

The AFL Barwon Communications team have put together individual fixture posts for each BFNL & GFNL Club to post on their socia media.

I am deeply grateful to be working at AFL Barwon servicing community grass roots football.

I must express my sincere appreciation to all club leadership teams and all the volunteers for their unwavering commitment to our region. Their countless hours of volunteer work are instrumental in making our clubs thrive, ensuring all tasks are completed efficiently and on time.

Although often underappreciated, the volunteers' efforts are profoundly valued by me and everyone at AFL Barwon, and I wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year 2025.

- Simon Riddoch

As 2024 draws to a close, the AFL Barwon Netball Operations team would like to thank all members and volunteers for the hard work across both winter and summer seasons (and everything in between!).  

We value the time and effort each of you put into supporting not only your clubs, but also us as well. We wish you a Safe and Merry Christmas, and a wonderful holiday period. 

Enjoy the break, and we will see you in the New Year. 

AFL Barwon are looking to include the details of any netball club trials being held next year on the AFL Barwon website. 

This could be a great way to assist participants in finding a club to play at for the upcoming season. 

Please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the following details, we will include on the website accordingly. 

• Date(s) 

• Time(s) 

• Venue(s) 

• Grade(s) 

Please be reminded as continued conversations take place over the Christmas period around player recruiting.  

With many clubs in the process of signing new players, please be reminded of the requirements your clubs are bound by. 

All reporting documentation can be found HERE. 

This includes: 

• Standard player declarations - all players who receive funds must sign and be submitted to AFL Barwon. 

• Non-declared player statements - all players who play A Grade and do not receive payment, must sign, and be submitted to AFL Barwon. 

• Excel Budget/Actuals Reporting template 

• Player Points System and PPSP By-Laws - (NOW ONE DOCUMENT, replacing previously two separate files) 

• Player Payment Rule 

• Player Payment Guidelines 

If you require further support in this space, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. in the new year. 

Please be reminded of our season dates. 

Games will resume according to the below dates: 

• 13&U and 15&U comps: Friday 31st  January (Round 9) 

• 11&U and 17&U comps: Tuesday 4th  February (Round 10) 

NET SET GO

Net Set Go has been released for 2025, meaning you can all start setting up your programs, if you run them. Don’t forget to fill out the form from Netball Australia to have your Organisation approved and they will allow the Net Set Go membership to be an option for you. It’s a very quick process, they’re usually on top of it quite speedily! 

Here is the form: https://netballvoice.getfeedback.com/r/GNEQICli/ 

ADMINISTRATION/ AFFILIATE INFO  

Safeguarding Children & Young People course 

Netball Australia has released a free course outlining the Safeguarding Children & Young People policy which will be integrated into the Foundation Umpire Course and Foundation Coach Course as well as becoming a mandatory part of the re-accreditation pathway. This means all coaches and umpires must complete the course every four years to maintain their accreditation. 

It is highly recommended that all coaches, umpires, officials and volunteers complete the course. 

More information. 

REGISTER FOR EVENTS/ WORKSHOPS 

Netball Victoria School Championships 

Dates and locations for the 2025 School Championships – Netball Victoria’s largest participation event – have been announced, and registrations are now open.   

Over 150 schools are expected to compete in next year’s event, taking place at nine locations across the state in August and September. 

If there are schools in your area that would like to be involved, they can contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information or register here. 

GRANTS 

There are a few streams of grant funding around to look at and consider, including working alongside your local council/shire. There is a lot of money lying in these grants so don’t be afraid to have a go! 

• The Regional Community Sports Infrastructure Fund 

• The Regional All Abilities Participation Grants 

Congratuations to our winners: Zachary Walker, Noah Guarnaccia & Callum Mahoney.

2025 Training Commencement: 

• AFL Barwon Geelong Umpires – from 5.30pm, Monday 3rd Feb. 2025 at Kardinia Park, then each Monday and Wednesday excluding Public Holidays 
• AFL Barwon Colac Umpires – from 5.45pm, Wednesday 5th Feb. 2025 at Lake Oval Colac, then each Wednesday excluding Public Holidays. 
• Practice Matches – from late Feb. 2025 (all umpires must be registered and have completed 2025 Umpire Education Module to be appointed) 

2025 Season Commencement: 

• BFNL, GDFNL, CDFNL – Saturday 5th April (CDFNL stand alone games 29th March) 
• GFNL, AFLBW Senior and U18W – Saturday 12th April
• U18 Boys, AFLBJ U16/14 Boys/girls – Saturday 26th April 
• AFLB All Abilities – Possibly 3rd or 10th May 

Mid-season Break:

• Monday 7th and Wednesday 9th July (leading into the General Bye and week 1 of GDFNL split round) - No AFL Barwon Umpire Training Colac and Geelong 

 All competitions (excluding GDFNL - Bye) play on Kings Birthday weekend. 

All Senior Men’s and Women’s competitions and U18 female have 2 Bye weekends 

CDFNL competitions have 3 bye weekends. 

U18 Boys and Junior boys and Girl’s competitions have 1 Bye weekend (12th July) 

There will be a much greater presence of Senior Female Football playing on Saturdays under the LGA’s Fair Access Policies, fixtures are yet to be determined at this time. 

In recent weeks, the AFL communicated to all umpires and umpire coaches nationally the 2025 Umpire Education Module requirements. 

The Umpire Education Module serves as an important aspect delivered by the AFL to provide continuous improvement and professional development to all umpire and umpire coaches across Australia.  

Most notably, all umpires and umpire coaches will initially be marked as 'unavailable' for appointments within OfficialsHQ. Completion of the educational module via the AFL LMS will automatically update your availability status in OfficialsHQ to ‘available’, allowing you to be considered for match appointments. Umpires will only become eligible for match appointments upon finishing the education module. 

We kindly request that you complete the Umpire Education Module as soon as possible to allow us to appoint you to matches once the season commences.   

If you require support to complete the education module, a user guide with step-by-step instructions is available here. 

If you have questions about the module content, please reach out to our team at AFL Barwon Umpiring (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or for technical assistance please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or you can watch the how-to videos. 

On the 06/12/2024 a AFL Barwon Child Safeguarding email update, which included a survey, was sent to Presidents & Secretaries of all Clubs asking where you see your club at in relation to Child Safeguarding obligations & compliance.

Just a gentle reminder that we require a response by the 31/01/2025. Thank you.