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The widening gap between the U18 and AFL levels

Senior Australian Football League games are faster and more intense than they were eight years ago, a tracking study of the sport has found.

However, as the senior level has increased in its demands on players, the Under 18 league from which most professional players are drafted has failed to keep pace, the research shows.

The study, published online ahead of the next issue ofInternational Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, puts trainers on notice that recruits into the senior game need a longer transition into the professional league.

Lead author Darren Burgess, a PhD student with the Centre of Physical Activity Across the Lifespan at the Australian Catholic University (ACU), says the study used GPS technology and computer-based tracking software to monitor player movement during games.

A total of 64 players was analysed during competitive games at the 2003 National U18 AFL Championships and 64 players during matches of the premier U18 AFL competition (Teal Cup) in 2009.

Data from senior AFL were collected on 64 players throughout the 2003 and 2009 AFL seasons.

Co-author Geraldine Naughton, also of ACU, says players in the 2009 senior competition spent 60 per cent more time sprinting and completed 12 per cent more sprints per minute.

A 2009 game was also 25 per cent faster than a 2003 game, however players were on the oval for 9 per cent less time.

Naughton says during the same time period the Under 18 game remained relatively static in terms of match speed and the intensity of play.

Alarming fitness gap

Burgess, who is head of fitness and conditioning at Liverpool Football Club in the UK, says the widening gap between the junior and senior levels of the sport is “alarming”.

“This means that the gap between Under 18s and AFL is getting wider and wider in terms of fitness requirements,” he says.

Burgess says the message to recruiters/trainers is that once drafted, players may not be as able to play senior AFL in their first year as they once did.

“Also a player who stands out physically from the rest in Under 18 competition may still need to improve his fitness, and in particular, high-intensity running ability, before he is able to compete with AFL standards.”

Burgess says these findings, combined with his recent research that suggests draft camp physical testing shows no relationship with early career success in AFL, should act as a warning to clubs who see drafting talented young players as a quick fix.

He says unless a “slow yet deliberate, structured integration of these players into the AFL system takes place” they are likely to be lost to the game through burn out or injury.

Burgess says the study also confirms the senior game is increasing in its professionalism and physical demands on players.

He says rule changes that have made the games more free flowing mean players are “definitely more physically fit than they were”.

However, these increases have been backed by more professional management of players, who he says “are receiving world’s best practice in terms of sports science”.

 

ARTICLE BY: DANI COOPER
From: ABC, 7 November 2011 

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