AFL Barwon is excited to announce that The Sexual Assault & Family Violence Centre (The SAFV Centre) will become a community partner of AFL Barwon for the next three seasons.

The partnership will be centred around the execution of the Respect Starts Here program which will work with selected AFL Barwon clubs to promote equality and awareness to address violence against women.

AFL Barwon, Region General Manager Edward Wilson stated,

“AFL Barwon is proud to align our values with a community organisation that embodies similar beliefs in tackling significant societal issues”.

“For us as an organisation, we believe our role within the community is more than sport administrators but rather, we hold a responsibility to provide growth and development opportunities that enable everyone to be the best version of their self, both on and off the court and field”.

Helen Bolton, CEO, The Sexual Assault & Family Violence Centre (The SAFV Centre) said:

“We are pleased to partner with AFL Barwon to continue implementing our Respect Starts Here program in local sporting clubs. This partnership reaffirms both organisation’s commitment to health and wellbeing, including creating safe and respectful communities.”

“Preventing violence against women is everyone’s business. Sporting clubs are a key setting of connection and belonging among local communities and as influential leaders are well placed to create gender equal environments which promote respect, inclusion, and safety.”

“Respect Starts Here supports clubs to promote gender equality and address violence against women. The program delivers tailored actions to promote gender equality within the club, its community, players, coaches, and volunteers.”

“The program is targeted towards local sporting clubs in the Barwon area, engaging players and members through interactive workshops where participants increase their understanding of violence against women, the gendered drivers of violence and how we can prevent it. Participants will walk away with strategies and tools on how they can intervene when witness to disrespectful behaviour.”

The SAFV Centre overview

The Sexual Assault & Family Violence Centre is a community based, not-for-profit service, offering free, confidential trauma-informed sexual assault and family violence services across the Barwon, Wimmera, and Western Melbourne areas of Victoria.

Operating for 45 years in the Barwon area and in the Wimmera district since 2013, we are a trusted, specialist organisation offering trauma-informed, therapeutic support and advice that is evidence-based, and grounded in a feminist intersectional approach.

AFL Barwon is pleased to announce a new major partnership agreement with leading sports technology and development company Rookie Me.

Rookie Me joins the AFL Barwon region as the Official Community Coach and Player Development Partner, which will provide a range of services and digital resources to league coaches, players and clubs.

This includes access to Rookie Me Coach Premium; an extensive library of training activities, sessions, tools and educational resources tailored for coaches at all levels of their careers. Clubs will also access Rookie Me Play – the new digital match day platform, to manage fair game time, player rotations and statistics for teams.

 This partnership will bring a range of exciting new opportunities and benefits to players, with school holiday football clinics to take place throughout 2023.

"We are excited to announce our partnership with AFL Barwon and join forces to support the growth and development of football in the region,” expressed Adham Dimachki, CEO of Rookie Me.

Through its wide range of innovative products, Rookie Me provides new opportunities for athletes, coaches and sporting professionals at all stages of their careers. The Rookie Me approach to sports, empowers individuals and the wider sporting community to be the best they can be, through education development and industry-leading sports technology.

AFL Barwon Regional General Manager, Edward Wilson, said “The partnership with Rookie Me for AFL Barwon will provide an unprecedented standard of coach and player development opportunities for all Clubs”.

“As an official Coach and Player Development Partner of the AFL, we're excited that Rookie Me can deliver their professional suite of programs and services for the benefit of our community“.

To learn more about Rookie Me, visit their website https://www.rookieme.com/.

Zena Sport and AFL Barwon are excited to announce an extension to the partnership for another two seasons.

The extension will see the partnership move into it’s fourth and fifth season after commencing the partnership in 2020.

Zena Sport will offer special rates on their products for the AFL Barwon members which provides a fantastic opportunity for footballers and netballers in the region. The partnership also includes the naming rights to the Geelong FNL 17 & Under Division 2 netball competition.

AFL Barwon Commercial Partnerships & Communications Manager Sean Atkinson, stated “We are really excited to continue to grow the partnership with Zena Sport over the next two seasons. Zena Sport provides a quality product for the female footballers and netballers in our region and being a local business, we believe this is a great partnership fit for AFL Barwon”.

“The Zena product has been generally targeted at footballers in our region however there are great benefits of the product for the 6,000 netballers in the Barwon competitions”.

Donna and Brad Johnson from Zena Sport were quoted “As a proud Geelong Business, we are excited to once again Partner with AFL Barwon to promote Female sport in the region and support the many Female Footballer's and Netballer's gearing up for the 2023 Season”.

Any AFL Barwon member who purchases a Zena Sport product can receive a 20% discount when they use the product code AFLBarwon20 .

For any AFL Barwon clubs who wish to order 20+ vests, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for a special club discount.

To see the full range of the Zena Sport product’s, simply go to https://zenasport.com.au/

Coaching in the Barwon Region has been bolstered in 2023, with two AFL Victoria Coach Developers employed to assist club coaches.

Michael King and Shannon Knox have been installed as Coach Developers with the aim to deliver coach learning methods (coach education, facilitation, assessing, mentoring and reflection) with club coaches within their coaching context at club level.

Michael and Shannon will work with clubs and club coaches to identify individual performance & 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. The coach developer program has three different types of workshops to cater for all levels of community coaches.

Both Michael and Shannon are very familiar with the Barwon Region with both having extensive coaching resumes.

Michael is currently an assistant coach with the Geelong Falcons Under 18 program and has held previous roles with the Under 16 Geelong Falcons, V/Line Cup, and coached St Joseph’s FNC Under 18’s for several seasons.

Shannon is also part of the Geelong Falcons Under 18 program as a Development Coach and has been involved in the Geelong VFLW program. She also played a significant role in the success of the North Geelong Senior Female program as head coach.

If you are interested in getting your club involved in the coach developer program, Michael and Shannon can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..