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THE BARWON BULLETIN

The official noticeboard for AFL Barwon Club Officials & Volunteers.
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EDITION 86
JULY 8, 2026
(LAST UPDATED - JULY 8, 2026)
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(Umpire appointments are updated Thursday 4pm)

Blood Toyota GFNL Finals Weeks 1 - 3

AFL Barwon is pleased to confirm that West Oval will host the opening three weeks of the 2026 Blood Toyota Geelong FNL Finals Series.

The schedule is as follows:

Week 1 – West Oval

Saturday, September 5 - Qualifying Finals

Sunday, September 6 - Elimination Finals

Week 2 – West Oval

Saturday, September 12 - Second Semi Finals

Sunday, September 13 - First Semi Finals

Week 3 – West Oval

Saturday, September 19 - Preliminary Finals

Week 4 – Kardinia Park

Friday, September 25 - Grand Finals

More information on the finals series can be found at the below button.

Finals Hub
AFL Industry to pay tribute to Nathan Fitzgerald

The AFL, on behalf of the football community across Australia, extends its deepest condolences to Nathan Fitzgerald’s family, friends, teammates and everyone connected with the Epping Football Netball Club, Lalor Football Netball Club and the Northern Football Netball League.

Nathan’s passing has deeply saddened everyone in the football community. Our thoughts are with everyone who knew and loved him, and with the many people across local football who have been affected by this tragic loss.

At times like these, football is about much more than the game itself. It is about coming together to support one another, with the team at AFL Victoria working closely with those affected and continuing to provide wellbeing support to Nathan’s family, his club and everyone impacted across the days and weeks ahead.

As a tribute, all 18 clubs across AFL matches this weekend will wear black armbands as a mark of respect. In addition, the Melbourne Demons and Nathan's beloved Richmond Tigers will hold a minute's silence before their match on Sunday at the MCG. 

The AFL will also communicate to all community football leagues and clubs around the country and encourage all players to wear black armbands during this weekend’s matches.

- Andrew Dillon, AFL CEO

Racism Doesn’t Belong In Our Game

The State Government has launched an anti-racism campaign bringing together 7 Victorian Sporting Organisations, CM Sport, VACSAL and VicSport to increase awareness of racism in community sport and its impact.

The Campaign is designed to tell the story of 7 people who experienced racism in community sport and provide education and digital tools for sporting clubs.

Racism doesn't belong in our game resources
2026 Presentation Night Dates

We are pleased to provide stakeholders with the full list of presentation night event dates for the end of this season.

Please be reminded that there is a change in format for junior vote count evenings this year. Junior votes counts for 17U and below for football and netball will be completed virtually, with the intention to enable more junior participants the opportunity to tune in and engage with the evening.

Award winners will still have the opportunity to be presented with their awards at the combined junior sport presentation evening, on the 23rd of September.

We are excited to enable more junior footballers and netballers within the region the opportunity to participate in the vote count experience.

Clubs are encouraged to host their own events and screening of the counts should they wish. 

Senior Football & Netball

Mathieson Medal | Geelong Football Netball League Presentation Night | Tuesday 22nd September 2026 | Buckley's Entertainment Centre

Ash Medal | Bellarine Football Netball League Presentation Night | Wednesday 16th September 2026 | Buckley's Entertainment Centre

Female Football Presentation Night | Senior Female | Monday 24th August 2026 | Buckley's Entertainment Centre

Junior Football & Netball

Under 18 Football and 19 & Under Netball Presentation Night | Wednesday 17th September 2026 | Buckley's Entertainment Centre

AFL Barwon Junior Sport Presentation Dinner | Wednesday 23rd September 2026 | Buckley's Entertainment Centre

AFL Barwon Junior Netball Vote Counts | Tuesday 15th September 2026 | Online via AFL Barwon website

AFL Barwon Junior Football Vote Counts | Tuesday 1st September 2026 | Online via AFL Barwon website

Colac & District FNL

Mahoney & Russell Medal | Colac & District Football Netball League | Wednesday 9th September 2026 | Colac RSL

CDFNL Junior Presentation Night | Monday 7th September 2026 | Colac RSL

Finals Hub here
2026 Female Festival of Sport Junior Representative Netball Exhibition Match

Celebrate our Bellarine, Geelong and Colac & District Athletes on the big stage.

Alongside Geelong Cougars as they host their Victorian Netball League Home game, our 17U representative teams will take part in an exhibition match to kick off the day.

Come along and celebrate the calibre of netball from the Barwon region, as Geelong Cougars take on the Western Warriors in the Victorian Netball League at “The Arena”.

Date: Tuesday 7 July
Times:

  • 10:30am - Local Representative Exhibition Match
  • 12pm - VNL Development Match
  • 1:30pm - 23&U VNL Match
  • 3pm - Championship VNL Match  

Venue: The Arena

2026 Female Festival of Sport Female Club Champion

Thank you to the clubs who submitted nominations for Female Club Champions to be recognised by our Communications team.

For clubs wishing to recognise someone within their own club on social media, we've created an editable Canva template that you can customise and share. The link is provided below.

We'd love to see clubs share these posts on Thursday night next week and tag AFL Barwon in your posts so we can help celebrate the incredible women making a difference across our community.

General Football

Water Carrier Reminder

Clubs are reminded that water carriers play an important match-day support role and must only enter the field to provide water before immediately leaving the playing arena. Water carriers must not coach, relay messages, interfere with play or engage with umpires or opposition players, and must always follow the directions of the field umpires.

Current by-laws require water carriers to be:

  • AFL Barwon: Over 12 years of age.
  • GDFNL: Over 12 years of age (as per GDFNL adopted by-laws).
  • CDFNL: Minimum 10 years of age.

Ensuring water carriers understand and perform only their designated role assists with player safety, game flow and the consistent application of competition by-laws.

Junior Football

AFL Barwon Kempe Junior Football Finals

Please note and advise coaches, team managers and any other relevant club personnel of the following information for finals.

Dates:

Junior football finals for the region will commence on the following dates by age group: 

U14 Mixed & U16: 

  • Week 1 – 22nd/23rd August (TBC)
  • Week 2 – 29th/30th August (TBC)
  • Week 3 – 5th/6th September (Grand Finals @ Herne Hill Reserve)

U14 & U17 Female: 

  • Week 1 – 16th August (TBC)
  • Week 2 – 23rd August (TBC)
  • Week 3 – 30th August (Grand Finals @ Lara Recreation Reserve)

*Please note that games will be played across both Saturday and Sunday throughout the final series for the U14 Mixed & U16 competitions.

Eligibility:

As of July 7th, we are 10 rounds through the season (inclusive of grading) for every age group. Please look to make yourself familiar with the eligibility requirements for finals to ensure that your club/participants are aware of what will be enforced: 

Match Day Paperwork

Please ensure that all team sheets on PlayHQ to this point in the season are accurate and match what has been signed off by the umpires on game day. If you have any queries about this, please reach out to the Football Operations team.

Yellow Card Procedure

AFL Barwon wishes to remind all clubs of the correct procedure relating to Yellow Cards in junior football competitions following recent instances of confusion regarding player replacements.

For clarification, any player participating in an Under 18 competition or younger who receives a Yellow Card is not to be replaced. The player must leave the field and serve 15 minutes of playing time in the designated Yellow Card area before returning to play. During this period, their team must continue with one fewer player on the field.

The relevant section of the AFL Barwon Handbook is provided below for reference.

Please ensure all coaches, team managers, players and match day officials are familiar with this procedure and that it is consistently applied throughout the remainder of the season.

Clubs found to be in breach of this rule may be subject to penalties in accordance with the AFL Barwon Competition Bylaws.

Resource Links

On-Field Vests & Apparel (loco)
Football Order Form

GFNL & BFNL Netball

BFNL/GFNL Netball – Coaches Votes

A gentle reminder for those who are yet to complete this form from the weekend.

BFNL - 2026 Bellarine FNL Netball Coaches Votes – Fill in form

GFNL - 2026 Geelong FNL Netball Coaches Votes – Fill in form

A reminder that we require this information be submitted by Tuesday morning of each week.

Netball Connect

Loading Umpire & Coaching accreditation into Netball Connect (must be done when registering into your competition.

A reminder that umpire and coaching accreditation should be recorded in individual Netball Connect profiles.  This can only be done at the point of registration. When umpires and coaches are registering into your competitions, they will be prompted to connect their Netball Australia My Learning account to their Netball Connect Profile and this will automatically pull through their accreditation information including expiry dates. This is really helpful for you to review and can be exported into a spreadsheet from Netball Connect. An outline of the process on Netball Connect can be found here.

Please also note if there are issues or the umpire/coach believes the information showing is not right, it is most likely that there has been a typo when entering their Netball Learning username on through the registration form (often a capital letter at the start of the email address). This can easily be fixed by our Workforce team - please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for any checks or changes. Accreditation records are imported into Netball Connect fortnightly, so if an accreditation is new, it could take a week or two to show on Netball Connect.

A reminder that all coaches and umpires MUST be registered to your competition.

Resource Links

Netball Resources
2026/2027 Greater Geelong Community Grants

2026/2027 City of Greater Geelong Community Grants are open.

Do you have an amazing idea but need funding to bring it to life?

Whether you are seeking to purchase new equipment, offer group activities, upgrade facilities, run a community event or create an inspired arts project, funding is available.

Grants available include:

  • Arts Projects
  • Christmas
  • Clean Economy
  • Climate Change Partnerships
  • Community Equipment
  • Community Events
  • Community Infrastructure
  • Community Strengthening
  • Creative Commissions
  • Creative Seed
  • Environmental Sustainability
  • First Nations

For grant guidelines, how to apply and important dates including free information sessions and grant writing workshops, visit Here

Stay up to date with Community Grants news by subscribing to our newsletter.

Australia Post Community Grant

Our Community Grants program supports projects that connect people to improve mental wellbeing in local communities. To help them deliver for their communities, we award Community Grants of up to $10,000 each year to fund community-led, local projects. These funds will be dedicated to projects that enhance mental wellbeing by fostering connection and building resilience within communities recovering from a natural disaster or a major storm event.

Apply and find out more here
Local Sports Infrastructure Fund - Now Open
he next round of Local Sports Infrastructure Fund is now open with funding up to $500,000 available. Clubs are encouraged to speak to their Council contact about any potential projects and its alignment to program guidelines. Program is only eligible to LGAs and will close on Tuesday 28 July 2026 at 5pm.
More information
Federal Grant Opportunity - Game On: Teaming up for climate action

Australian Government will open a funding opportunity to clubs and councils on June 11 and closes July 31st, 2026.

The Game on: Teaming up for climate action program will deliver $35.262 million over 2 funding rounds and will run over 3 years from 2026–27 to 2028–29. The program was announced as part of the Support for the Net Zero Plan.

Individual clubs can apply ($25K - $100K)

More information on the program can be found here

Telstra Footy Grants

The Telstra Footy Grants program offers local football clubs in Australia the opportunity to receive funding to enhance their operations and community engagement. The Telstra Footy Grants is designed to financially assist initiatives that can support Community Clubs affiliated to the AFL to strengthen the base and secure the future in three key strategic areas: Grow and assist volunteer capacity. Grow and diversify participation. Improve club environments and experiences. Final rounds closes Thursday 23 July.

Information found here

Apply here

SRV - Regional All Abilities Participation Grant

The Regional All Abilities Participation Grants help deliver inclusive opportunities for people with a disability in regional Victoria to participate and thrive. Grants of up to $25,000 are available for equipment, travel, inclusion workforce, and programs and disability-led initiatives. Applications close 12 August.

Please click here for more information and for the application link.

Play by the Rules - Complaint Handling

Refreshed Course Play by the Rules has re-launched their Complaint Handling Course. The course aims to support presidents, committee members and nominated complaint handlers in community sport to effectively handle complaints as they arrive. The course focuses on providing tips and strategies to handle grievances that don’t need to be escalated, whilst providing options for when more formal processes should be activated.

Click here for the web page.

Toyota Good for Footy Raffle
The Toyota Good for Footy Raffle gives 100% of funds raised helping invest in the things that matter most to your players, volunteers and community. Tickets are just $5. Plus, you could win one of three brand new Toyota vehicles, exclusive AFL experiences, coaching clinics and more. When your club raises funds, it builds a stronger season ahead. That's Good for Footy! Ticket sales close 21 September 2026 at 12.00pm.
Start promoting ticket sales for your club here
TAC Club Rewards

The TAC and AFL Victoria have partnered together for 34 years, working to achieve the vision of no deaths or serious injuries on our roads. As part of the program, all AFL Victoria-aligned clubs across regional Victoria and in the metropolitan leagues can take part and earn up to $10,000 in funding by promoting road safety in their community. This year we're tackling speeding driving. Road Safety Round will take place over the weekend of 23-26th July 2026.Applications close Monday 24 August

Click here for more information
AFLW Community Ambassadors Program

Nominations are now open for the 2026 Chemist Warehouse AFLW Community Ambassadors Program.

The Program recognises women and girls in the football community who have been instrumental in facilitating and nurturing the remarkable growth of women and girls’ football.

You can find out more about the program here- https://play.afl/clubhelp/women-girls/grants

Nominations close on July 26th.

2026 Community Awards Nominations – NOW OPEN

The Netball Victoria Community Awards celebrate the significant achievements of individuals and groups who have contributed to the sport of netball in Victoria throughout the year.

The growth and development of netball within Victoria is at the heart of everything we do and we love to highlight the great work of our Victorian netball community.

Nominations for the 2026 Community Awards are now open!

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