Development coaches at junior AFL games barely notice the goals. Goals are fine. But goals aren’t where the game actually happens for a nine-year-old.
Most parents spend the whole game following the ball. Which means most parents miss about eighty percent of what their kid is doing. That gap — between what’s easy to watch and what actually matters for development — is worth closing.
Here’s how to watch a junior AFL game the way someone who understands player development watches it.
Watch Your Kid When They Don’t Have the Ball
This is the single biggest shift you can make as a sideline parent, and it takes about three games before it becomes natural.
When the ball is on the far side of the oval, where is your kid? Are they moving to find space? Working to become an option for a teammate? Or standing still, watching the play, waiting for something to come to them?
The skill coaches call “playing without the ball” is one of the hardest things to develop and one of the first things they look for. A kid who is always scanning, always moving, always trying to get in a useful position is doing something genuinely hard — even if the ball never reaches them.
If your kid does this, they probably don’t know you’ve noticed. Tell them after the game. Specifically. “I saw you keep moving to find space in the second quarter even when you weren’t getting the ball” lands differently than “great effort.”
What Real Effort Actually Looks Like at This Level
There’s the obvious stuff — running hard, going in for a tackle. And then there are the effort indicators that don’t make the highlight reel but tell you a lot about where a player is heading.
Chasing after turning the ball over. When your kid gives the ball away and the opposition runs with it, do they chase back or drift off hoping a teammate covers it? A kid who sprints back into the contest after making a mistake is showing something coaches genuinely value — more than the kid who only works hard when things are going well.
Second efforts. After a mark is taken, the ball goes to the ground underneath it. After an opponent marks or receives a kick, someone has to run to close them down. Does your kid do that, or is it always someone else? Second efforts don’t show up in any scoreboard. Development coaches count them constantly.
Body language between plays. Watch your kid’s face and posture after something goes wrong. Do they put their head down? Do they look at the bench? Or do they reset and get into position? Resilience is a skill, and it shows up in body language well before it shows up in results. If your kid resets quickly after a mistake, that’s worth acknowledging.
These are the things worth talking about on the drive home. Not the shot that hit the post.
Decision-Making Is a Skill You Can Actually Watch For
When your kid receives the ball, there’s a moment before they act — maybe half a second. In that moment they’re supposed to be scanning: where are my teammates, where are the opposition, what’s the right option?
Watch that moment. Did they look up before they got the ball, or were they watching it all the way into their hands? Did they make a quick, clear decision, or hesitate and get caught? When they kicked or handballed, did the option they chose make sense — even if it didn’t come off perfectly?
Decision quality and outcome are different things. A well-weighted kick to a leading teammate who drops it was still a good decision. A goal off a wild kick in the wrong direction was a poor decision that happened to work. Development coaches track the decision, not the result.
Try this one question on the drive home: “What were you thinking when you got the ball in the third quarter?” Not “why didn’t you kick it to so-and-so.” What were you thinking. It shifts the conversation from blame to reflection, and it’s a habit that takes about two games to start feeling natural.
The Stats That Actually Tell a Development Story
Once you start watching differently, you’ll notice things you want to remember.
Goals are easy to count. But the numbers that track development are disposals — every time a player touches the ball, whether they kick it or handball it — tackles, contested possessions, and how often their disposals lead somewhere useful. These tell you whether your kid is getting involved, competing hard, and making good decisions — not just whether they happened to be nearby when a goal went through.
A lot of parents find that even tracking two or three of these numbers changes what they see. Their kid might not kick goals but consistently tackle more than anyone else. Or they might start the game well and fade in the last quarter — a pattern that was always there but never visible when you were just watching the score.
ScorX is built for exactly this. Parents record stats from the sideline during the game — disposals, tackles, contested ball. Not as a job, but as a way of watching with purpose. By the end of the game you have something real to talk about. Not “you played well” or “tough day.” Something like: you had nine disposals in the first half and four in the second. What changed?
That kind of conversation is where development actually happens. Most kids finish a season with a vague feeling they got better. Seeing it in their own numbers — watching those numbers move across a season — is something else entirely.
A Simple Sideline Focus for Each Game
You don’t need to track everything. Pick one or two things to pay attention to each game and you’ll come away knowing more than a parent who watched randomly for ninety minutes.
- Early in the game: Where is my kid when they don’t have the ball? Are they moving or watching?
- During play: Am I watching my kid, or am I watching the ball?
- After a mistake: How quickly do they reset? What does their body say?
- When they get the ball: Do they look up first? Is the decision clear and quick?
- Final quarter: Is the effort still there when it’s genuinely hard?
Pick one of these each week. Over a season, you’ll know your child’s game better than you’d expect.
Frequently Asked Questions
What stats should I track for a junior AFL player?
Start with three: disposals (every kick or handball), tackles, and contested possessions (times they won the ball with opponents close). These capture whether your kid is getting involved, competing, and earning the ball under pressure — without needing deep AFL knowledge to count them accurately.
How do I talk to my kid about their game without it becoming negative?
Focus on decisions and effort, not outcomes. “I noticed you kept chasing even when it was hard in the third quarter” is more useful than “you didn’t kick any goals.” Questions work better than statements — ask what they were thinking in a key moment rather than telling them what they should have done.
Is it worth tracking stats if my kid’s team doesn’t use them?
Yes. The numbers are for your kid’s own development picture, not for the coach’s game plan. Watching their own stats improve across a season — more disposals, more tackles, more efficiency — is motivating in a way that team results can’t replicate, especially in junior footy where team balance varies hugely between clubs.
How do I know if my child is developing, even if the team keeps losing?
Look at individual trends, not game results. Is your kid getting more involved as the season goes on? Are their disposals leading somewhere? Are they competing harder for the ball? Development doesn’t always show up in wins and losses — particularly in junior sport, where the gap between clubs at the same age group can be enormous.
What if I don’t know enough about AFL to understand what I’m seeing?
You know more than you think. Effort, body language, whether your kid is finding space, how quickly they reset after a mistake — none of that requires tactical knowledge. Start with effort indicators and build from there. The longer you watch with purpose, the more you’ll naturally understand.
Related reading
- 7 AFL Stats That Matter for Junior Development — the numerical side of what you’re watching: which stats tell the real story by position and age
- How to Track AFL Stats on Your Phone During a Game — how to record what you see without taking your eyes off the game
- The Parent’s Guide to Junior AFL Development — the bigger picture of development across every age group from Auskick to U18s
ScorX is free to download. Track your kid’s disposals, tackles, and contested ball at the next game — you’ll see the season differently.