Footy training for the Riverina, Central West & southern NSW
The GIANTS’ regional zone is enormous, from the Snowy Mountains to Broken Hill. A Riverina junior trials in Wagga — with a 2km time trial first.
One month free, then A$24.99/month. Cancel any time. iPhone and iPad.
The rest of regional NSW — the Riverina, the Central West, the far west and the south coast — is GWS GIANTS Academy zone. The GIANTS run regional centres in Wagga Wagga, Albury, Griffith, Deniliquin, Wentworth, Broken Hill, Orange-Bathurst and on the South Coast, and held 2026 Academy trials in the Riverina. Community footy runs through leagues including the Riverina, Farrer, Northern Riverina and Hume leagues, AFL Central West, Broken Hill and AFL Sapphire Coast.
Your academy
On the AFL’s NSW/ACT zoning map, the Riverina, Central West, far west and south coast are GWS GIANTS Academy zone.
- GWS GIANTS Academy — regional centres
- Wagga Wagga, Albury, Griffith, Deniliquin, Wentworth, Broken Hill, Orange-Bathurst and the South Coast, plus Canberra. Under-16 to under-18 programs, with 2026 trials in the Riverina.
Around Albury, many clubs play in Victorian competitions and sit near the Murray Bushrangers’ pathway too. Check with your club which applies to you.
The competitions
- Riverina, Farrer and Northern Riverina leagues
- Community footy across the Riverina.
- Hume Football League
- Community footy governed by AFL NSW/ACT.
- AFL Central West
- Community footy in the Central West.
- Broken Hill and AFL Sapphire Coast
- Community footy in the far west and on the far south coast.
Set it up for regional GIANTS Academy zone
Four things, in the order the app asks them. None of them needs a coach.
Choose footy, then your team nights
Onboarding asks “When do you train with your team?” Pick your club nights — Riverina, Farrer and Northern Riverina leagues or wherever you play — and your gym and conditioning are scheduled around them, lighter the day after a big one. Tell it your equipment and any niggles and every exercise is fitted to both.
Match the program to your league’s start
The app treats March as the start of the footy season. If your league starts in April, you can hold the pre-season a few weeks longer by setting the phase yourself. The phase lives in Program → Your year.
Know your numbers on day one
Your first testing session is ready immediately: 2km time trial, Bench press 1RM, Max pull-ups, Trap-bar deadlift 1RM, Running vertical jump. It is re-run every 8 weeks, and the results re-price your training weights and conditioning paces.
Put your suburb on the board
In Social → Town, set where you train. Your minutes count toward that town’s weekly conditioning and strength top-10 boards — only the town is kept, never your location.
What you start with, by the month you join
Every block is four weeks — three building, one deload — so a free month is one complete block.
The footy year in regional GIANTS Academy zone
- October – November
- Off-season, and academy trials — the GIANTS trialled in the Riverina in early November for 2026.
- December – February
- Pre-season, through inland heat. Aerobic base first, then strength, then power.
- March – June
- Academy games in the first half of the Talent League season.
- April – September
- Community seasons. Volume comes down, weights hold.
Inland heat, frosty winters
The Riverina and the far west get very hot, dry summers, and Orange and Bathurst get cold, frosty winters. Train the pre-season at first light, treat heatwave weeks as extra load, and make the warm-up count on a cold winter ground.
Coaching a side in regional GIANTS Academy zone?
A club licence is A$8 per player, per month (minimum 5), and every player on it gets full Train Smart membership at no cost to them. You write the block once, it lands in each player’s app, and the console shows who actually did it.
Footy in regional GIANTS Academy zone: questions
Which AFL academy covers Wagga Wagga and the Riverina?
What footy leagues are in the Riverina?
Where these facts come from
Checked September 2026. Zones, grades and dates change — if something here is out of date, the governing body is right and we are wrong.
Nearby and related
Sydney
Eight regions across ten junior districts, the SG Ball and Harold Matthews Cups, and a western Sydney summer.
OpenNewcastle & the Hunter
The Newcastle Rugby League premiership, the Knights’ SG Ball and Harold Matthews sides, and the NMR Knights.
OpenThe AFL pathway
From community level to state league and the draft — and what gets tested along the way.
OpenTurn up to round one already fit
Pick footy, tell it your team nights, and your first block and testing session are ready before you leave the car park.
One month free, then A$24.99/month. Cancel any time. iPhone and iPad.