Footy training for Ballarat & western Victoria
Western Victoria covers an enormous area, and a GWV Rebels squad can include players who drive hours to train. When you cannot train with the group every night, what you do on your own is what decides whether you keep up.
One month free, then A$24.99/month. Cancel any time. iPhone and iPad.
The Greater Western Victoria Rebels are the Talent League club for Ballarat, the Wimmera and south-west Victoria, recruiting from towns including Horsham and Hamilton, with their home ground at Eureka Stadium in Ballarat. Community footy runs under three AFL regional bodies: AFL Goldfields (including the Ballarat FNL), AFL Wimmera Mallee and AFL Western District.
Which club your address belongs to
The GWV Rebels — formerly the North Ballarat Rebels — expanded their name in 2017 to reflect a recruiting zone that now covers Ballarat, the Wimmera and the south-west.
- Greater Western Victoria Rebels
- Home ground Eureka Stadium, Ballarat. Recruits from the Ballarat, Wimmera and south-west regions.
Parts of the south-west sit between the Rebels and the Geelong Falcons. The club can confirm which program applies to your address.
The competitions
- Ballarat Football Netball League
- Under AFL Goldfields.
- Central Highlands Football League
- Under AFL Goldfields.
- Maryborough Castlemaine District FNL
- Under AFL Goldfields.
- Wimmera FNL and Horsham District FNL
- Under AFL Wimmera Mallee.
- Hampden, South West District, Warrnambool & District and Mininera leagues
- Under AFL Western District.
Set it up for Ballarat & western Victoria
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 — Ballarat Football Netball League 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
If your league starts later than March, set your season phase yourself in the app and stay in pre-season a little longer. 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 Ballarat & western Victoria
- October
- Off-season. Rest, then rebuild general strength.
- November – February
- Pre-season through a hot inland summer. Aerobic base, then strength, then power.
- Late March
- Talent League begins.
- April – September
- Community season through a cold winter. Volume comes down, weights hold.
Ballarat winters are the other opponent
Ballarat is known for cold winters, and the Wimmera for hot summers — so a western Victorian player trains through both extremes in one year. Get the aerobic base done early in the morning over summer, and treat a proper warm-up on a frozen winter ground as non-negotiable.
Coaching a side in Ballarat & western 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.
Footy in Ballarat & western Victoria: questions
Which Talent League club covers Ballarat and Horsham?
Where do the GWV Rebels play?
What footy leagues are in western Victoria?
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.
- Greater Western Victoria Rebels — club profile
- The Standard — GWV Rebels 2026 squad
- AFL Victoria — metropolitan and regional leagues
Spotted an error? Tell us and we will fix it.
Nearby and related
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.
OpenGeelong
Footy training for Geelong, the Bellarine and the Surf Coast — the Geelong Falcons pathway, the four AFL Barwon leagues, and Geelong in the VFL.
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.