Meade, who has extensive history within football and triathlons, will work on developing the next generation of young women and men under the Pioneers' elite programs.

Meade's experience includes working as the athlete development manager at Bendigo South East College, with the Pioneers as member of the football operations team and more than 12 years involvement competing in triathlons across the world.

But now he is ready for his next challenge within the sporting world.

"The approach I want to take into the new role is getting players, families and the broader football community to understand the high standards required to play NAB League football," Meade said.

"We run an inclusive holistic program that's open to everyone but participants need to be committed to do all of the hard work so we can drive high standards to ensure the girls and boys get the best opportunity possible."

Bendigo Pioneers compete within the NAB League boys and girls competitions which act as the primary source for players to progress to either the AFL or AFLW.

Meade said the Pioneers had always shown strong talent over the years, with the aim to continue on the same path with even more robust programs.

"There's no questions that talent has always been there with a history of players such as Dustin Martin, Ollie Wines, Joel Selwood, Jake Stringer, Nick Dal Santo and Rick Ladson," Meade said.

"It's now a case of nurturing future talent and enhancing our programs so that players can show their best."

One area which Meade was pleased to see make strong progress was the Pioneers' girls program, which recently saw Tara Slender and Elizabeth Snell recruited to AFLW teams.

"It's a very exciting space and it's a blank canvas. It's a whole new frontier and we still don't know how far it's going to go."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: