Footy · Western Australia

Footy training for Perth players

Every WAFL club has a district of junior clubs feeding it, and every district has more players than Colts spots. The players who hold one are usually the ones who turned up in April already fit.

One month free, then A$24.99/month. Cancel any time. iPhone and iPad.

Short answer

Perth is divided into WAFL club districts, each made up of junior football clubs: West Perth and Subiaco in the north, Claremont in the western suburbs, East Perth and Swan Districts in the inner north and north-east, Perth in the south-east, and East Fremantle and South Fremantle in the south. Their Colts and women’s teams are the talent pathway.

The WAFL runs April to September, so pre-season happens through the hottest months.

Your pathway

Which club your address belongs to

Nine WAFL clubs have a metropolitan district. West Coast also fields a WAFL side, without one.

West Perth
Joondalup. The far northern suburbs, from Whitford to Yanchep.
Subiaco
Leederville. The northern suburbs, from Balga to Sorrento-Duncraig.
Claremont
Claremont. The western suburbs and the coast.
East Perth
Leederville. The central and northern suburbs — Bayswater, Perth, Stirling, Swan and Vincent.
Swan Districts
Bassendean. The Swan Valley, Midland and the hills.
Perth
Lathlain. Belmont, Canning, Gosnells, South Perth and Victoria Park.
East Fremantle
East Fremantle. Melville and the southern suburbs to Canning Vale.
South Fremantle
Fremantle. Cockburn, Kwinana and Armadale.
Peel Thunder
Mandurah. The Peel region — see its own guide.

WA Football’s district profiles date from 2020, and junior club line-ups change. Your junior club, or the WAFL club, can confirm which district it sits in.

How the AFL pathway works, step by step →

Where you play

The competitions

WAFL, Colts and WAFL Women’s
The state league and its talent competitions. April to September.
Junior football by district
Each district’s junior clubs play in WA Football’s metropolitan junior competitions.
Amateur and community football
Senior community football across the metro area.
Your first ten minutes

Set it up for Perth

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 — WAFL, Colts and WAFL Women’s 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. The WAFL and most community leagues start in April, so you can hold the pre-season through March 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.

JoondalupScarboroughMidlandFremantleCanningtonRockingham

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.
The year

The footy year in Perth

October
Off-season. Rest, then rebuild general strength.
November – February
Pre-season, through the hottest months. Aerobic base first, then strength, then power.
March
Final preparation. Practice matches and testing.
April – September
Season. The 2026 WAFL season began on 3 April with the Grand Final on 20 September. Volume comes down, weights hold.

How the program follows your season →

Conditions

Perth pre-seasons are long and hot

Perth’s summer is long and dry, and the hard part of a pre-season lands squarely inside it. Train the running early — before the heat builds — and treat very hot stretches as added load rather than pushing through them. Sports Medicine Australia’s heat guidelines are the reference most clubs use.

For coaches

Coaching a side in Perth?

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.

FAQ

Footy in Perth: questions

What are the WAFL clubs?
Claremont, East Fremantle, East Perth, Peel Thunder, Perth, South Fremantle, Subiaco, Swan Districts, West Coast and West Perth.
When is the WAFL season?
A 20-round season from April to September.
How should I train for footy through a Perth summer?
Run early before the heat builds, build the aerobic base and strength first, and treat heat as load. Train Smart runs the pre-season build from November to February and lets you reorder the week.
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. WAFL — clubs, grounds and season
  2. 2026 WAFL season
  3. Sports Medicine Australia — hot weather guidelines

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

Turn 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.