That term culture can stretch to different areas, but for O'Bree it meant developing the Pioneers as a club.

For O'Bree, there's far more to the Pioneers than just providing talented young players with a potential pathway to the AFL or AFLW.

"I want the kids in our region to love being a Pioneer,'' he said.

"The fact they want to be a Pioneer, wear those colours and strive to be the best they can is really significant in building the Pioneers' culture in our region."

Building a club atmosphere with strong links to its past is important to O'Bree and club staff.

Earlier this season, former Bendigo Pioneers midfielder Ben McGlynn, who played 171 AFL games with Hawthorn and Sydney, took time out from his assistant coaching role with St Kilda to take the Pioneers for a training session.

Last week Fremantle key forward Josh Treacy held an online session with the playing group, while on Thursday night Collingwood forward Jack Ginnivan returned to the Pioneers to assist with training.

Ginnivan has been back in his hometown of Castlemaine since the end of Collingwood's season.

"It's been an aim to engage with those players that have been through our program,'' O'Bree said.

"I've made a big point about getting ex-players in to do the running on matchday, or to talk to players or to do some specialist coaching.

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"We had Ben McGlynn come and take training earlier this year and we had Josh Treacy do an online talk with the players last week.

"Jack took a drill in our skill rotation, did some specialist drills and some goalkicking.

"You could see how much the players enjoyed having Jack back at the club. They got a lot out of it.

"It's a credit to Jack. He didn't have to give up his time to help, but he was really keen to do it.

"It's a really strong focus for us going forward to continue to strengthen those ties between the club and former players."

The Pioneers have had one full week of training since restrictions were eased and O'Bree was pleasantly surprised with what he saw.

"We've had incredible numbers this week and there's been an amazing feeling around the club,'' he said.

"I thought players might drop off after what they've been through this year, but we had 70 players turn up on Tuesday night and about 13 of those players were from the girls program.

"Hopefully, we're developing a really positive culture that people want to be there to improve. It's not about playing and winning games, they just want to be there to continue their development.

"Your development stops when you want it to stop and these kids just want to keep improving."

While the girls are putting in extra sessions in the build-up to the start of their pre-season training, the boys are back on the park in the hope of resuming their NAB League season.

There remains a glimmer of hope that the under-19 boys could play two games against country NAB League rivals in the first two weeks of October.

"We really don't know what it's going to look like,'' O'Bree said.

"With cases breaking out in regional Victoria, and Ballarat in lockdown, we just have to wait and see what happens in the next couple of weeks.

"I know the players are really keen to get back to play."

The start of the Pioneers' girls pre-season training is just around the corner.

"Invitations went out to about 70 players on Thursday,'' O'Bree said.

"We'll see how many accept the invitation and come along and have a go."

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