THE AFL’S GPS data from the 2008 season has revealed a fourth consecutive increase in “playing intensity”.
Among results that delight AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson, who has introduced a raft of rule changes, the 2008 season saw players spend less time at “high-end speeds” and more time at “steady-state running speeds”.
The findings were sourced from nearly 1400 match-day uses of GPS-tracking devices by all types of players from all 16 clubs.
While Anderson refused to link the data to specific players and clubs, he concluded: “Team-based success closely related to team workrate – harder-working teams finished higher on the premiership ladder.
“Interestingly, the correlation with success was with a team’s overall exertion index, not its exertion index per minute.”
The GPS data collected last year took the “ball in play” reading for the 2005-08 period to 62 per cent.
For seasons 2001-04, that reading was 49 per cent.
Anderson said there were strong warnings at the end of 2004 that the game had moved too far to a stop-start style and, as a result, players were suffering serious collision injuries because when the ball was in play, they found themselves playing at a higher speed.
The GPS data, he said, proved the players’ top speeds had been smoothed out.
On average, the findings concluded players were spending a collective seven minutes less a match running at 25km/h or faster than they were in 2005.
“Football in the last few years has shown the benefit of being kept continuous,” Anderson said.
Despite being buoyed by the reduction in top speeds reached by players, Anderson has not identified an optimum speed for the game.
One finding Anderson said needed further investigation was when it was linked to another study that showed increases in groin and hamstring injuries.
ARTICLE BY: DAMIEN BARRET
From: Foxsports, 13 February 2009