Duration-specific running intensities of Australian Football match-play

To establish the position and duration-specific running demands of Australian Football (AF) competition for the prescription and monitoring of specific training drills.

An observational time-motion analysis was performed on 40 professional AF players during 30 games throughout the 2014-15 competitive seasons.

Player movements were collected and peak values were calculated for moving averages of between 1-10min in duration for relative distance (mmin^-1), high-speed relative distance (HSmmin^-1), average acceleration/deceleration (ms²) and metabolic power (P_met). A mixed-model analysis was used to detect positional differences, and differences were described using a magnitude-based network.

Relative distance was likely greater for midfielders (MID), and mobile forwards (MF) compared to tall backs (TB) across all moving average durations assessed, with MF peaking at 223±35mmin^-1 for a 1-min window. High-speed relative distance was at least likely to be greater for MF compared to all other positions, across all moving average durations (ES=0.27-0.94). Acceleration/deceleration demands were similar across positions.

The present study demonstrated that the peak running intensities of AF are well above previously reported peak intensities when considering the distance-based running requirements of match-play. Whilst the acceleration-based metric was unable to detect large differences between positions, it is important to note their contribution to the overall competition demands. This study presents a useful framework for the prescription and monitoring of drills specific to AF competition requirements.