The 2025 season dates for the Smithy’s VFL and rebel VFLW competitions have been confirmed.
The 2025 Smithy’s VFL season will commence the weekend of March 22-23, which will again align with Round 2 of the Toyota AFL Premiership Season.
The rebel VFLW competition will be played in a new season window, with the 2025 campaign to be played from April to August. The competition has been played from March to July over the past two seasons.
The opening round of the 2025 rebel VFLW season will begin the weekend of April 19-20, while the final round will be played the weekend of August 2-3. The finals structure remains unchanged, with the finals series to be played across four weeks.
The new rebel VFLW season dates provide more alignment with the NAB AFLW competition. As announced last month, the 2025 NAB AFLW Season will commence the week beginning August 11 – two weeks earlier than in 2024.
AFL Head of State League Competitions, Jennie Loughnan, said: “After extensive consultation with clubs and key stakeholders, we are pleased to confirm season dates for the 2025 Smithy’s VFL and rebel VFLW seasons.
“The decision to shift the rebel VFLW season dates followed a review of the women’s football calendar and creates more alignment with the updated NAB AFLW season timing.
“The new rebel VFLW season dates will provide great benefits for clubs and players, with more opportunities now available for AFLW-listed players to compete in rebel VFLW matches as they prepare for the upcoming AFLW season.
“This will further elevate the standard of the rebel VFLW and help to continue the development of the women’s football talent pool.
“The Smithy’s VFL has enjoyed stability in recent years and we are pleased to have the same 21 teams who have featured in the competition for the past three seasons again competing in 2025.
“Season dates for the Smithy’s VFL will remain consistent with 2024, with the season to commence in late March and conclude with the Smithy’s VFL Grand Final, which will again be played on the AFL preliminary final weekend.”
With season dates confirmed, the fixture for the 2025 Smithy’s VFL and rebel VFLW season will be announced early in 2025.
SMITHY’S VFL
The opening round of the 2025 Smithy’s VFL season will be played the weekend of March 22-23, aligning with Round 2 of the AFL season. The final home and away round will be scheduled for the weekend of August 16-17.
The VFL is continuing to work through the possibility of again playing a State Game after the SANFL vs VFL representative match took place in Adelaide during AFL Gather Round earlier this year.
Irrespective of whether a representative match is played, all teams will play 18 home and away matches during the 2025 Smithy’s VFL season.
As introduced in 2024, the seven VFL standalone clubs will play 10 home games from their 18 matches during the 2025 season.
The three AFL-aligned teams and four New South Wales and Queensland-based AFL teams will play nine home games, while the seven Victorian-based AFL clubs will be fixtured to play eight home matches.
The top-ten teams on the ladder at the conclusion of the 2025 Smithy’s VFL home and away season will qualify for the finals.
The finals will commence with the wildcard finals on the weekend of August 23-24, which will see the team that finishes in seventh position on the ladder play against the team that finishes 10th, while eighth will take on ninth.
Qualifying and elimination finals will be played the weekend of August 30-31, followed by semi finals on September 6-7 and preliminary finals on September 13-14.
The 2025 Smithy’s VFL Grand Final is scheduled to be played on Sunday, September 21, the weekend before the 2025 Toyota AFL Grand Final.
rebel VFLW
The 2025 rebel VFLW season will commence the weekend of April 19-20.
The competition will consist of a 16-round home-and-away season, where all teams will play 14 matches and have two byes.
The rebel VFLW finals format will remain unchanged, with the top-six teams on the ladder at the conclusion of the home and away season to qualify for the 2025 rebel VFLW Finals Series.
Finals will be played across four weeks, commencing the weekend of August 9-10
The 2025 rebel VFLW Grand Final is scheduled to be played the weekend of August 30-31.
