The AFL has confirmed the fixtures for the 2025 Coates Talent League season.
The Coates Talent League is Australia’s premier underage football pathway competition for boys and girls in the eastern states, with teams comprised mostly of under 18 players.
The competition is unique to the Australian sporting landscape with the overwhelming focus on player development.
The 2025 Coates Talent League competitions will again feature 12 full-time boys and girls programs from Victoria, along with the Tasmania Devils.
Academy programs from New South Wales (GWS GIANTS and Sydney Swans), Queensland (Gold Coast SUNS and Brisbane Lions) and Northern Territory (NT Academy) will also compete in a selection of games in the first half of the 2025 season.
The home-and-away fixture for boys and girls again includes several community access periods. The community access breaks provide opportunities for Coates Talent League players to study and compete in community, school and representative football.
Coates Talent League Boys
The 2025 Coates Talent League Boys home-and-away season will be played across 19 rounds, commencing the weekend of March 29-30. The final home and away round will be played the weekend of August 23-24.
The five academy programs from New South Wales, Queensland and Northern Territory will each feature in up to four matches between Rounds 4-7.
Wildcard Round will be played the weekend of August 30-31, ahead of a three-week knockout finals series which will culminate with the 2025 Coates Talent League Boys Grand Final the weekend of September 20-21.
The Sandringham Dragons are the Coates Talent League Boys reigning premiers after last year securing a third-successive premiership triumph with a 37-point Grand Final victory over the GWV Rebels.
Please click here to view the 2025 Coates Talent League Boys fixture.
Coates Talent League Girls
The 2025 Coates Talent League Girls home-and-away season will be played across 18 rounds, commencing the weekend of April 5-6.
The five academy programs from New South Wales, Queensland and Northern Territory will each feature in up to four matches between Rounds 3-10.
The finals series will commence the weekend of August 30-31, with the 2025 Coates Talent League Girls Grand Final to be played the weekend of September 20-21.
Oakleigh Chargers are the defending premiers after last year claiming a second-consecutive premiership win with an 18-point victory over the Eastern Ranges in the Grand Final.
Please click here to view the 2025 Coates Talent League Girls fixture.
Broadcast and streaming
As part of the partnership between the AFL and News Corp Australia, KommunityTV will continue to live stream one Coates Talent League Boys and Girls match per week in 2025. All remaining matches will be live streamed on the Coates Talent League app.
Under 16 competition
Coates Talent League under 16 boys and girls matches will be played during March and April, with the 12 Victorian teams to each play two matches.
The Coates Talent League Girls under 16 matches will be played from Saturday, March 1 to Sunday, March 16, while the Coates Talent League Boys under 16 matches will be played from Saturday, March 29 to Friday, April 11.
The under 16 matches will assist with selecting Victoria Country and Victoria Metro squads to compete at the 2025 Marsh AFL National Development Under 16 Championships.
Please click here to view the 2025 Coates Talent League Boys under 16 fixture.
Please click here to view the 2025 Coates Talent League Girls under 16 fixture.
Victorian Diversity All-Stars
The 2025 Victorian Diversity All-Stars matches are scheduled to be played at Shepley Oval on Wednesday, April 16.
First introduced in 2023, the Victorian Diversity All-Stars matches for boys and girls feature Indigenous and players from culturally diverse backgrounds who are aged 18 years or under.
Players selected to play in the Victorian Diversity All-Stars matches are listed by Coates Talent League programs or have previously been involved in Talent Pathways programs.
About the Coates Talent League
The Coates Talent League started in 1992 as the Victorian State Football League (VSFL) before becoming the TAC Cup from 1993-2018 and then the NAB League from 2019-2022. The girls competition started in 2017.
The competitions were rebranded the Coates Talent League in 2023.
Over the years the competition has produced more AFL and AFLW players than any other league and is also an important development program for emerging coaches, umpires, administrators and support staff.
58 players from the 13 programs who compete full-time in the Coates Talent League were selected by AFL clubs in the 2024 National, Rookie and Mid-Season drafts, while 29 players from full-time Coates Talent League Girls programs were selected in the 2024 Telstra AFLW Draft.
