The 2025 VFL season was the 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. The season began on 21 March and concluded on 21 September.

won the premiership for the third time, defeating by ten points in the 2025 VFL Grand Final.

Background Death of Dale Tapping On 4 February 2025, coach Dale Tapping died, two years after he was diagnosed with myeloma, an aggressive form of blood cancer. Essendon had appointed Tapping as its VFL coach for the 2025 season only several months prior on 11 October 2024. He had previously served as 's VFL coach from 2013 until the end of the 2016 season, and was named VFL Coach of the Year in 2016.

Cameron Joyce, who coached in the AFL Women's (AFLW) from 2022 season 6 until he was dismissed at the end of the 2024 season, was announced as Essendon's new VFL coach on 24 February 2025.

Practice matches Clubs held practice matches beginning on 15 February 2025. A carnival featuring the six Victorian-based standaline clubs was held at Mars Stadium in Ballarat on 1 March 2025.

There was speculation that the Tasmania Football Club would enter the VFL in 2025. Instead, AFL Tasmania introduced a Senior Talent Academy, which included representative games against and on 22 March 2025 and 4 May 2025 respectively. On 5 September 2025, Tasmania was granted a licence to compete in the VFL, starting in 2026.

Broadcast rights 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. 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.

As a result, Seven moved its VFL coverage from Sunday afternoon to 7pm on Saturdays, airing in Victoria on 7mate. On 17 March 2025, the VFL announced that one game per round would be broadcast on Saturday nights, with fixture changes implemented accordingly.

Clubs Venues and affiliations Club State Home venue(s) Capacity AFL affiliation VIC Box Hill City Oval 10,000 Wonthaggi Recreation Reserve 5,000 QLD Brighton Homes Arena 8,000 Brisbane VIC Ikon Park 13,000 VIC Casey Fields 9,000 VIC Barry Plant Park 15,000 VIC AIA Vitality Centre 3,500 Victoria Park 10,000 VIC NEC Hangar 3,500 Windy Hill 10,000 VIC Mission Whitten Oval 10,000 Marvel Stadium 53,343 VIC Kinetic Stadium 5,000 VIC GMHBA Stadium 40,000 QLD People First Stadium 25,000 NSW Blacktown ISP Oval 10,000 ENGIE Stadium 23,500 Albury Sports Ground 8,000 VIC Arden Street Oval 4,000 VIC Genis Steel Oval 5,000 VIC ETU Stadium 6,000 VIC Holm Park 7,000 Swinburne Centre 2,800 VIC RSEA Park 8,000 WS Trevor Barker Beach Oval 6,000 QLD Fankhauser Reserve 8,000 NSW Tramway Oval 1,000 Blacktown ISP Oval 10,000 Sydney Cricket Ground 48,000 VIC Avalon Airport Oval 8,000 VIC DSV Stadium 6,000

Coach appointments

New coach Club Date of appointment Previous coach Matthew Primus 7 August 2024 Steve Daniel Andy Otten 19 August 2024 Josh Fraser Brendan McCartney 19 August 2024 Adam Skrobalak Jake Batchelor 23 September 2024 Steven Morris Dale Tapping 11 October 2024 Blake Caracella Brendon Goddard 11 October 2024 Jake Batchelor Jarrad McVeigh 21 October 2024 Damian Truslove Cameron Joyce 24 February 2025 Dale Tapping

Club leadership Club Coach Leadership group Captain(s) Vice-captain(s) Other leader(s) Zane Littlejohn Callum Porter Stu Horner Seb Amoroso, Jake Arundell, Trent Bianco, Kye Declase, Corey Preston Ben Hudson Luke Power Heath Ramshaw Taylor Whitford Deakyn Smith Riley Baldi, Paddy Cross Charlie Peters, Tom Freeman, Max Gregory, Kai Windsor Jamie Cassidy-McNamara Jesse Corigliano Flynn Gentile, Lachlan Walker, Mitch Podhajski Ryan Sturgess, Braedyn Gillard, Daniel Johnson, Joel Trudgeon, Jack Bytel Andy Otten Sam Glover Brady Grey, Harrison Kennedy, Chad Mulvogue, Angus Seivers, Curtis Taylor, Tom Wilson Cameron Joyce Xavier O'Neill Jackson Hately Stewart Edge Dan Orgill Cooper Craig-Peters David Cuningham, Josh Kellett, Jarrod Gilbee Jackson Kornberg Trent Mynott Mark Corrigan Dan Capiron Marcus Herbert Tate Kaeslar James Tsitas Wayne Cripps Ryan Hebron Tom Lynch Darcy Macpherson Louis Butler, Connor Downie Rohan Welsh Liam Mackie Patrick Fairlie, Jean-Luc Velissaris Josh Hamilton Jackson Weidemann Brendan McCartney Harvey Hooper Tom Hird, Matt Signorello, Jimmy Miller, Fraser Rosman, Tom Highmore Jake Batchelor Lachlan Street Mutaz El Nour, Joel Garner Liam George, Nick 'Bob' Girolami Brendon Goddard Blake Watson Misilifi Faimalo Andrew Mathieson, Liam Purcell, Mitch Ryan, Ethan Williams Matthew Primus Brayden Crossley, Jacob Dawson Zac Foot Jarrad McVeigh Nick Shipley James Allan Jesse Clark Dom Brew (), Louis Pinnuck () Angus Hicks, Jay Dahlhaus Justin Plapp Finn O'Dwyer, Cameron Polson Jack Toner Toby Triffett, Brodie McLaughlin

Home-and-away season Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Ladder

Progression by round

Finals series

All starting times are local time. Source: afl.com.au

Wildcard finals

Qualifying finals and elimination finals

Semi-finals

Preliminary finals

Grand Final

Teams

Awards J. J. Liston Trophy (best and fairest): Jacob Dawson () – 28 votes Fothergill–Round–Mitchell Medal (rising star): Tom Blamires () Jim 'Frosty' Miller Medal (leading goalkicker): Brodie McLaughlin () – 67 goals Coaches MVP Award: Jacob Dawson () – 87 votes

Team of the Year

Club best and fairest Club Award Winner Col Austen Trophy Jai Serong Neville Fallon Award Luke Beecken Deven Robertson Best and Fairest Ethan Phillips Gardner Clark Medal Riley Bonner Jim Sullivan Medal Donovan Toohey Joel Trudgeon Joseph Wren Trophy Harry De Mattia Best and Fairest Jackson Hately Best and Fairest Billy Crofts Peter Geddes Medal Tom Blamires Best and Fairest Marcus Herbert Player of the Year Ned Moyle Player of the Year Max Gruzewski John Law Medal Darcy Macpherson Laurie Hill Trophy Jean-Luc Velissaris Jack McFarlane Medal Tom Hird Guinane Medal Mutaz El Nour Lachlan Wilson Neil Bencraft Medal Angus McLennan Doc Mackenzie Medal Zac Foot Player of the Year Indhi Kirk Bruce Montgomery Trophy Dom Brew Gerry Callahan Medal Luke Parks

Season notes Because of redevelopment at Swinburne Centre, played a number of its home games at Holm Park Recreation Reserve in Beaconsfield, where it had an agreement with Cardinia Shire Council. Additionally, Richmond was officially designated as the home team in its round 7 match against at Casey Fields, as well as its round 9 match against at Windy Hill. Richmond's round 3 match against was moved from Holm Park to Swinburne Centre, making it the only VFL match played at the venue for the 2025 season. On 30 June 2025, announced it would end its reserves affiliation with in the VFL following the 2025 season, with both clubs fielding their own teams in 2026. On 20 August 2025 (following the conclusion of the home-and-away season), the reverted to being called the "Preston Football Club", a decision that was first announced three months earlier. At the same time, it was reported that the club could be in danger of folding because of debt, with the club asking the AFL to financially assist. Less than two months later, the club's VFL licence was revoked, excluding it from the league from 2026, and the club subsequently entered voluntary liquidation on 15 December 2025.

Representative match

An interstate representative match was played during the AFL Gather Round for the second consecutive season, taking place in Tanunda in the Barossa Valley region. coach Zane Littlejohn was coach of the team.

Scoreboard

See also 2025 VFL Women's season

Notes

References

External links