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Local guides · Victoria

Footy training across Victoria

More people play Australian football in Victoria than anywhere else, which makes every senior spot, rep jersey and Talent League list more contested here than anywhere else too. Find your region below: the pathway, the leagues and the season all change with where you live.

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Short answer

Victoria is Australian football’s heartland. Juniors are zoned by home address to one of twelve Victorian Talent League clubs — six Melbourne metro programs plus the Dandenong Stingrays and five country clubs — and senior community footy is played through winter in leagues from the VAFA to the Ovens & Murray.

Train Smart’s footy program follows that calendar: a summer pre-season, a protected winter season, and a prescribed weight on every set.

6 guides

Choose your city or region

Each guide covers the pathway club your address belongs to, the leagues, the season and how to set the program up for it.

Footy

Melbourne

Footy training for Melbourne — the metro leagues, the Talent League zones by region, when pre-season really starts, and training through a Melbourne summer.6 regions: west · north-west · north · east · Bayside & the inner south-east · Frankston, Casey & the Peninsula

Open the guide Footy

Geelong

Footy training for Geelong, the Bellarine and the Surf Coast — the Geelong Falcons pathway, the four AFL Barwon leagues, and Geelong in the VFL.

Open the guide Footy

Ballarat & western Victoria

Footy training for Ballarat, the Wimmera and the south-west — the GWV Rebels pathway and the Goldfields, Wimmera Mallee and Western District leagues.

Open the guide Footy

Bendigo & northern Victoria

Footy training for Bendigo, Echuca, Swan Hill and Mildura — the Bendigo Pioneers’ huge zone and the AFL Central Victoria and Sunraysia leagues.

Open the guide Footy

Gippsland

Footy training for Gippsland — the Gippsland Power Talent League pathway and AFL Gippsland’s leagues, from the Gippsland League to East Gippsland.

Open the guide Footy

North East & Goulburn Valley

Footy training for Wangaratta, Shepparton and Albury-Wodonga — the Murray Bushrangers pathway, the Ovens & Murray, Goulburn Valley and Murray leagues.

Open the guide
Every region

All 6 regional guides in Victoria

Melbourne’s westMelbourne’s north-westMelbourne’s northMelbourne’s eastBayside & the inner south-eastFrankston, Casey & the Peninsula
Find your club

Footy clubs in 32 council areas

Every club with a home ground in the council, its ground, and the league and grades it plays.

BrimbankHobsons BayMaribyrnongMeltonWyndhamHumeMerri-bekMoonee ValleyCity of MelbourneMacedon RangesBanyuleDarebinNillumbikWhittleseaKnoxMaroondahWhitehorseManninghamYarra RangesBaysideBoroondaraGlen EiraKingstonMonashPort PhillipStonningtonYarraCaseyCardiniaFrankstonGreater DandenongMornington Peninsula
Starting now

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.

Jan
Pre-season
Max-strength block
Feb
Pre-season
Max-strength block
Mar
In-season
Maintenance block
Apr
In-season
Maintenance block
May
In-season
Maintenance block
Jun
In-season
Maintenance block
Jul
In-season
Maintenance block
Aug
In-season
Maintenance block
Sep
In-season
Maintenance block
Oct
Off-season
Muscle-building block
Nov
Pre-season
Max-strength block
Dec
Pre-season
Max-strength block
Read from the app: the season phase a new AFL account starts in, and the first four-week block it runs.
For coaches

Coaching a side in Victoria?

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.

How club licences workFor S&C coaches and PTs
FAQ

Training in Victoria: questions

How are Victorian juniors zoned to Talent League clubs?
By residential address. Each Talent League club recruits from a defined zone — the Western Jets from Brimbank, Maribyrnong, Hobsons Bay, Melton and Wyndham, for example — so where you live, not your junior club, decides the program you trial for.
How many Talent League clubs are there in Victoria?
Twelve: Calder Cannons, Dandenong Stingrays, Eastern Ranges, Northern Knights, Oakleigh Chargers, Sandringham Dragons and Western Jets around Melbourne, and Bendigo Pioneers, Geelong Falcons, Gippsland Power, the Greater Western Victoria Rebels and Murray Bushrangers in country Victoria.
When is footy pre-season in Victoria?
Senior and junior clubs generally start formal pre-season between November and January, for a season that runs through winter. Train Smart treats November to February as the footy pre-season build.
Sources

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.

  1. AFL Victoria — metropolitan and regional leagues
  2. Talent League — clubs
  3. AFL — 2026 Talent League fixtures

Spotted an error? Tell us and we will fix it.

Your season, your club nights, your numbers

Pick your sport, answer a few questions, and the program is built around the calendar you actually play on.

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