THE PULSE – 17 July 2026

Under 19 Men’s and B-D3 do the Big V Proud!  

With all VAFA Clubs outside of Division 3 Men’s having the traditional mid-season bye last weekend, most attention was focused on the VAFA’s Big V representative matches against the Goulburn Valley League.

Each of the League’s U19 representative teams duelled in the first game, followed by VAFA Premier B-Division 3 Senior Men’s against GVL Senior Men’s. A good crowd of over 750 patrons attended the recently named Revo Fitness Park, but whilst there was a change in the name of the VAFA headquarters venue, a traditional strong four goal wind to the southern end showed that some things stay the same!

Outside of that, the ground presented beautifully, with a fully grassed surface and the rain stayed away for the entire duration of the games, enabling the players to showcase their abilities.

The Under 19 Men’s team was expertly led by ex-St Bernards coach Paul Gilmore, who took over the reins from last year’s successful coach Paul Carrigan, now senior coach at Hampton Rovers.

It was terrific to see the wide spread of VAFA Clubs represented, with the team of 22 players originating from 18 different VAFA Clubs. It is a testament to all the players, plus Paul and his assistant coaches, that despite coming off limited preparation, the players were so connected on game day and played a great brand of team football that delivered a solid 40-point victory. 

As always, there was many an AFL scout in attendance keeping their eye on some of these talented youngsters.

In the second match, ex-Old Ivanhoe senior premiership coach Jarrod Gieschen stepped up to take charge of the Premier B-Division 3 team. He knew he had big shoes to fill, following in the steps of Luke Mahoney (now an Assistant coach at St Kevins) who had led the Premier B-Division 3 team to successive victories over the Bendigo League in 2025 and 2026, the latter in extra time.

Again, it was great to see that the final B-D3 team consisted of players from 13 different VAFA clubs who really gelled well together. 

Many pundits expected Goulburn Valley to be strong favourites, but it was the Big V boys who started the game strongly, kicking with first use of the breeze, establishing an early lead and then building on that each quarter to eventually run out comprehensive victors by 91 points. The tackling and pressure put on the opposition across the ground was a real highlight of the performance. 

As with any representative team, there were a few disappointed players who missed out on the final team (either through injury, suspension, or selection), but it was a credit to all those players who attended the matches and stayed connected to the team.

A quick shoutout to thank all the volunteers involved in the Big V program, to the coaching team’s, team managers, high-performance staff, medical staff and the VAFA staff that worked outside of hours to bring this program to fruition. All your efforts are greatly appreciated as always.

This is certainly the epitome of the ‘Spirit of the Big V’ showing out!

We now look forward to the GVL hosting the VAFA for each of these games next year, whilst VAFA will host Adelaide Footy League in the Premier Men’s and Women’s Big V matches at Revo Fitness Park.

Jason Reddick

VAFA CEO