Missing a rep team is common and it is not final. When we checked on 11 October 2026, Victorian clubs were announcing 2026/27 teams between 10 and 20 October, mostly by email. Many give no individual feedback, but several keep waiting lists, train-on places or a development league, and squads can still change before the second grading phase.
Last updated 13 October 2026.
The email arrives, or does not arrive, and there is a stretch of a few hours where every parent wants to do something. Ring the coach. Post in the group chat. Book a private session. Find another association.
Do none of it that night. Your child is watching how you react far more closely than they are reading the outcome, and the story they take from the evening is the story you tell them in it.
It also helps to know the odds before you read them as a judgement. Melbourne Tigers publish that most of their teams will have ten players. An association fielding a handful of teams per age group is choosing a few dozen kids from everyone who turned up over two weeks of sessions.
The clubs know this lands hard. Melbourne Tigers say so themselves. Their tryout page says some disappointments are inevitable once the final teams are announced, and that however transparent and objective a club tries to be, subjectivity is an inherent part of every team selection.
Most Victorian clubs tell successful players by email. Nunawading, Darebin, Melbourne Tigers, Sunbury, Doncaster and Whittlesea all say offers arrive by email. Dandenong coaches phone players from 6.30pm on Monday 12 October, and at Broadmeadows the team's head coach rings successful players within 24 to 48 hours.
Some clubs post lists instead. Southern planned to post preliminary squads on its website by Monday 12 October, Camberwell posts team lists on its Dragons Info Hub, McKinnon emails teams and publishes them on its website, and Mornington announces squads on its website and social media.
Not every club tells you if your child missed out. Mornington says it does not notify unsuccessful players individually and does not publish their names. Others do: Nunawading says unsuccessful players are notified by email, and Sunbury sends the selected teams to everyone who tried out.
If you have heard nothing by the date on the club's page, check your spam folder, then the club's website, then ring the club office. Our tryouts guide has a table of every association's published announcement date and acceptance deadline, checked on 11 October 2026.
Some of the hardest emails are the ones that say yes. Your child made rep, just in the third team instead of the first, or in a VJL division when they were hoping for VC, and it can feel more like a no than a yes.
It helps to know how the levels actually work. Victorian Championship, or VC, is the top tier of the VJBL, and only around 20 teams statewide make it in each age and gender group. Below it sit the numbered Victorian Junior League divisions, where VJL1 is stronger than VJL2, and since the 2026 restructure a third tier called Regional League sits under those, played in geographic pools to cut travel.
Divisions grade teams, not children. A player can sit in a VJL3 team at an association with deep numbers and be stronger than a VC player at a smaller one, because the division a team lands in depends partly on how many kids tried out there that year.
It is not locked in yet either. Basketball Victoria's rules let associations move players between teams before Grading Phase Two begins, and Melbourne Tigers say their teams are not final until then. Once a player takes the court in Grading Phase Two, they stay in that team for the rest of the season.
What I tell families in this spot is take it, and then go and be the best player in that team. A lower team usually means more of the ball, more minutes and a bigger role, and that's exactly what gets a kid noticed when coaches are deciding who moves up. The kid who sulks because the team feels beneath them doesn't move anywhere.
This season's team is a starting point, not a ceiling.
Feedback policies vary a lot, and many clubs now say up front that there is none. Broadmeadows, Mornington, Frankston and Southern all say they will not give individual feedback on selection, mostly because of the number of players. Keilor says it will not hold meetings or discussions about team placements, and McKinnon says it cannot provide specific individual feedback to all participants.
Where feedback is offered, it runs through a process. Whittlesea asks for feedback requests within three days of team announcements and replies by email. Dandenong says unsuccessful players may request brief development feedback. Nunawading says feedback will only be considered once all teams are finalised and cannot always be guaranteed. Melbourne Tigers offer written feedback by email, but only after a family accepts an offer.
It also helps to know what was actually being assessed. Melbourne Tigers publish the criteria their coaches assess against. Skill and ability to perform at VJBL level. What position they play. How competitive and athletic they are. Whether they fit the group. How they treat coaches, officials and teammates. Whether they take coaching on board. How much they want to improve, and how committed they are to the club.
Read that list again with your child in mind, because half of it is not talent. Position, squad balance and attitude decide a lot of marginal calls, and all three are things a twelve year old can change in a year.
When you write, ask one question, and make it the useful one. What are the two things my child should work on before the next tryout. Coaches answer that well. They answer why did you not pick my kid very badly.
The next tryout doesn't really happen in October. It happens every week between now and then, and October is just the night the coaches find out who did the work.
Squads get picked again at tryouts every year, so the kids who made it this time have to earn it again too. And they won't be standing still. Rep means Friday night games from November right through to September, and at Broadmeadows, for example, selected players commit to two training sessions and a game every week of the VJBL season. That's the bar.
So if your child wants one of those spots next year, matching it isn't enough. They have to do more than the kids who've got them - more good work, done more often, for longer. That sounds harsh, but honestly it's the good news, because work is the one part of this your child completely controls.
Go back to that list of what Melbourne Tigers coaches assess. Position, attitude, taking coaching on board, how much a kid wants to improve. None of that is fixed at eleven or fourteen, and all of it can look different by next October if someone's actually working on it.
More work doesn't mean two hours of drills every night, either. A tired kid repeating the wrong thing just gets better at the wrong thing. It means picking the two things the feedback pointed at, or the two things you can both see holding them back, and doing them properly most days all summer. Then having someone check every week that it actually happened, because that's where most plans quietly fall over.
That's what I do. I build a plan around your child, check in every week in a group chat with you and them, and pull apart the clips you send me. I've run tryouts and made cuts, so I know what's on the list. The first 4 weeks are free, and if I don't think I'm the right fit for your child, I'll tell you.
Lists move. Mornington says players who missed out may be invited into a squad later if places open up because offers are not accepted. Whittlesea says unselected players may be placed on a waiting list, and Broadmeadows keeps an emergency list of players it will contact if a position becomes available.
Preliminary means preliminary. Southern says its Sabres preliminary squads can and will change through pre-season practice matches up to the end of VJBL Grading Phase One. Melbourne Tigers say the same of Under 12 to Under 18: its tryouts page says selections are not permanent until after the first round of grading in mid December, and its 2026/27 handbook says teams are not final until Grading Phase Two begins.
Basketball Victoria's rules build in another window. Before the start of Grading Phase Two, associations can move players between teams or bring in players who have cleared from other associations. Once a player takes the court in Grading Phase Two or the championship season, they cannot move teams or associations for the rest of the year.
Associations also lose players over a long season. Families move, kids get injured, some choose another sport. A child who has kept training and is known to the coaching staff is the one who gets the call.
So the practical advice is unglamorous. Play domestic, play well, stay visible, and be the easy phone call to make in February.
Domestic, first. Not as a consolation, as the better basketball outcome for a lot of kids. Domestic is graded. In the EDJBA, for example, the first six rounds are grading rounds where teams move up or down on results, and after round six each team is placed in its final grade, so your child ends up playing teams at their level and getting real minutes in close games. A player who has the ball in their hands for twenty five minutes a week improves faster than one who has it for six.
If your child is going back to their club, ring the club this week rather than waiting, and ask what is still open for the season. Getting back on court with their mates quickly matters more than which team it is.
Development leagues are the second option, and several eastern clubs run one. Eltham Wildcats describe the Eastern Development League as designed for athletes who were not selected for a junior representative team, across Under 12 to Under 16. Camberwell encourages unsuccessful players to attend its EDL selections, Basketball Hawthorn says players unsuccessful in its final phase will be considered for the EDL, and Darebin runs a Rep Preparation Squad in the EDL. I set up Hawthorn Magic's first EDL teams, for kids who had just missed rep.
Train-on places are the third. Melbourne Tigers sometimes offer train-on positions, where a player trains with a team on Sunday mornings or mid-week without playing games, listed at $175 per term. Dandenong offers Training Only positions at $350 for 2026/27, and says a Training Only position does not guarantee future selection.
Fourth, development squads and second teams. Ballarat plans to select additional athletes into development spots alongside its VJBL teams. Melbourne Tigers run a Development Squad for players aged Under 12 to Under 16 with some basketball experience who want to be selected the following season. At Bendigo, every Under 12 team and the second, third and fourth teams in other age groups play a tournament season rather than the VJBL.
Fifth, and only if you live in a country postcode, the country pathway runs its own championships and academies. That is a separate eligibility question worth checking rather than assuming.
The instinct after a knockback is to find an association with fewer numbers where your child would make a team. Sometimes that is the right call. Often it costs more than it looks.
If your child has played VJBL before, Basketball Victoria requires a Permission to Train form before they try out with another association, and the association they are leaving has 5 business days to approve it. Its rules say a player cannot attend any training, online or in person, without that permission, and its clearance rules say an association is not permitted to speak to a player about joining until that written permission or a signed clearance exists.
Timing is the real problem in October. Most clubs have finished their sessions, and some have already closed the door to late arrivals: Darebin took no Permission to Train requests after Tuesday 6 October, and Dandenong said anyone seeking permission from Friday 9 October would no longer be considered for a Rangers position.
There is a path for a player left without a team. Basketball Victoria's handbook calls a player who attended tryouts and did not make a team Not Required, and its rules let a player who has been excluded from all of an association's teams before round one of Grading Phase One apply for eligibility at a new association. Players must be registered before round one of Grading Phase One, and VJBL games start on 20 November 2026.
There is also the driving. A team an hour away turns every training session into a two hour round trip on a school night for the whole family, in exchange for a division your child may have made at home a year later.
The question worth sitting with is what your child actually wants. If they want to play a lot of basketball with their mates, a strong domestic season is exactly that. If they want the rep environment specifically, then work the year and try again in October. Both are real answers. Neither of them has to be decided the week they miss out.
Mostly between 10 and 20 October 2026. Nunawading planned to start on Saturday 10 October, Southern and Dandenong on Monday 12 October, Waverley on Tuesday 13 October, McKinnon on 13 and 14 October, Ballarat by 14 October and Collingwood on Tuesday 20 October. Our tryouts guide lists every association.
Usually by email. Dandenong and Broadmeadows phone successful players instead, and Southern, Camberwell, McKinnon and Mornington post squads on their websites. Offers often need an answer within 24 to 48 hours, so watch your email and phone after the final session.
Not necessarily, but it can. Mornington says it does not notify unsuccessful players individually, while Nunawading emails unsuccessful players and Sunbury sends the selected teams to everyone who tried out. Check the club's website and spam folder, then ring the club.
It depends on the club. Broadmeadows, Mornington, Frankston and Southern say they do not give individual feedback. Whittlesea takes requests within three days of team announcements, Dandenong offers brief development feedback, and Melbourne Tigers give written feedback only after an offer is accepted. Ask what to work on, not why they were cut.
Sometimes. Mornington may invite unsuccessful players later if offers are not accepted, Whittlesea keeps a waiting list and Broadmeadows an emergency list. Basketball Victoria also lets associations move players or bring in cleared players before Grading Phase Two.
In most cases, yes. A lower team usually means more minutes and a bigger role, and Basketball Victoria lets associations move players between teams before Grading Phase Two begins. Squads are picked again at tryouts every year, so this season's team is a starting point, not a ceiling.
Start now rather than in August. Pick the two things the feedback or the tryout exposed, work on them most days through summer, keep playing domestic, and have someone check the work every week. Pre-tryout sessions in August and September are too late to start from scratch.
Yes. Squads are picked again at tryouts every year, and a lot of what selectors look at can change in twelve months, such as position, attitude and how a player takes coaching. Kids who play a big domestic season and work on one or two specific things give themselves the best chance.
The Eastern Development League, a competition several eastern clubs use for players who miss their VJBL team. Eltham says it is designed for athletes not selected for a junior representative team, from Under 12 to Under 16. Camberwell requires EDL players to also play domestic in both seasons.
A spot training with a rep team without playing its games. Melbourne Tigers list rep train-on places at $175 per term, and Dandenong lists Training Only places at $350 for 2026/27, noting it does not guarantee future selection.
Possibly, but it is late. A player who has played VJBL before needs Permission to Train first, which can take 5 business days, and some clubs have closed the door: Darebin took no requests after 6 October and Dandenong none from 9 October. Ring the club before you register.
No. Domestic is graded so games stay competitive, and a child who plays heavy minutes in a well graded team develops faster than one sitting on a rep bench. Coaches also notice a player who dominates their domestic grade.
For most age groups, next October. VJBL tryouts are generally held in October each year, with registrations opening around September and pre-tryout sessions in August and September. Under 20 tryouts run later, and for 2026/27 some were still running into November.
Consider it, but understand the process first. A player who has played VJBL needs Permission to Train before trying out elsewhere, clubs set their own cut-offs, and a team an hour away means a long drive to every training session.
Keep it short, calm and on the same night as the news, then leave the plan for later in the week. Tell them it is a decision about one squad in one year, not about them, and let them be disappointed. The useful conversation about feedback, domestic and next October can wait a few days.
If you have a question that you want answered and it isn't here - talk to head coach Cameron and he can talk you through the question that you have.
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Facts on this page were compiled from the official sources below and written up in our own words. Dates, fees and venues change every season, so confirm anything you are relying on with the association directly.
This page was last updated October 2026. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
