| 2025 VFL season | |
|---|---|
| Date | 22 March − 21 September 2025 |
| Teams | 21 |
The 2025 VFL season is the upcoming 143rd season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), a second-tier Australian rules football competition played in the states of Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland. [1] The season is scheduled to begin on 22 March and conclude on 21 September, featuring 21 clubs. [2] [3]
On 4 February 2025, Essendon coach Dale Tapping died, two years after he was diagnosed with myeloma, an aggressive form of blood cancer. [4] [5] Essendon had appointed Tapping as its VFL coach for the 2025 season only several months prior on 11 October 2024. [6] [7] He had previously served as Collingwood's VFL coach from 2013 until the end of the 2016 season, and was named VFL Coach of the Year in 2016. [8] [9]
Clubs will hold practice matches beginning on 15 February 2025. [10] [11] There was speculation that the Tasmania Football Club would enter the VFL in 2025, but it is expected that they will instead join the competition in 2026. [12] [13] Instead, AFL Tasmania will manage a Senior Talent Academy, which will include representative games against Frankston and Sandringham on 22 March 2025 and 4 May 2025 respectively. [14] [15]
In September 2022, the Australian Football League (AFL) announced a seven-year, $4.5 billion broadcast rights deal with the Seven Network, Foxtel and Telstra, effective from the 2025 season. [16] This included Saturday matches (outside of marquee matches) becoming exclusive to Foxtel and Kayo for the first eight rounds of the season, while all Saturday night matches in the last eight rounds of the season would be exclusive to Seven. [17]
As a result, Seven is expected to broadcast move its VFL coverage from Sunday afternoon to 7pm on Saturdays, airing in Victoria on 7mate. [18] The games will be played at a single venue, with Port Melbourne's home ground ETU Stadium considered. [18]
| New coach | Club | Date of appointment | Previous coach | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matthew Primus | Southport | 7 August 2024 | Steve Daniel | [19] |
| Andy Otten | Collingwood | 19 August 2024 | Josh Fraser | [20] |
| Brendan McCartney | Port Melbourne | 19 August 2024 | Adam Skrobalak | [21] |
| Jake Batchelor | Richmond | 23 September 2024 | Steven Morris | [22] |
| Brendon Goddard | Sandringham | 11 October 2024 | Jake Batchelor | [23] |
| Jarrad McVeigh | Sydney | 21 October 2024 | Damian Truslove | [24] |
| TBA | Essendon | TBA | Blake Caracella |
| Club | Coach | Leadership group | Ref | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Captain(s) | Vice-captain(s) | Other leader(s) | |||
| Box Hill | Zane Littlejohn | ||||
| Brisbane | Ben Hudson | ||||
| Carlton | Luke Power | ||||
| Casey | Taylor Whitford | ||||
| Coburg | Jamie Cassidy-McNamara | ||||
| Collingwood | Andy Otten | ||||
| Essendon | Xavier O'Neill | Jackson Hately | [25] | ||
| Footscray | Stewart Edge | ||||
| Frankston | Jackson Kornberg | [26] | |||
| Geelong | Mark Corrigan | [27] | |||
| Gold Coast | Tate Kaeslar | ||||
| Greater Western Sydney | Wayne Cripps | ||||
| North Melbourne | Tom Lynch | ||||
| Northern Bullants | Rohan Welsh | [28] | |||
| Port Melbourne | Brendan McCartney | ||||
| Richmond | Jake Batchelor | ||||
| Sandringham | Brendon Goddard | ||||
| Southport | Matthew Primus | ||||
| Sydney | Jarrad McVeigh | ||||
| Werribee | James Allan | ||||
| Williamstown | Justin Plapp | ||||