Preseason Body Composition Is Associated With In-season Player Availability in Elite Male Australian Footballers.

McCaskie, CJ, Sim, M, Newton, RU, Heasman, J, Rogalski, B, and Hart, NH. Preseason body composition is associated with in-season player availability in elite male Australian footballers. J Strength Cond Res 37(5): 1089-1095, 2023-The purpose of this study was to examine whether end of preseason body composition characteristics was associated with in-season match availability and injury.

Post-game recovery of isometric hamstring strength in a high-risk hamstring strain injury group throughout an Australian Football League season.

This study sought to investigate post-game hamstring strength recovery of 26 Australian Football League (AFL) players with a previous hamstring strain injury (HSI) across an AFL season. Maximal unilateral isometric knee flexion strength was assessed using an externally fixed dynamometer, and inter-session reliability was measured during the pre-season period. Linear mixed effects models investigated the influence of numerous variables on post-game hamstring strength decrement (relative change between initial weekly test and individual baseline) and individual within-week strength change following gameplay.

Pre-season body composition has minimal influence on in-season match availability, and match performance in female Australian Football League (AFLW) players.

This study examined the relationship between pre-season body composition, in-season match performance, and match availability in female players competing in the Australian Football League Women's (AFLW) competition. With the outlawing of body composition assessments as part of pre-draft player evaluations in the AFLW, this study seeks to examine whether this is justified. Twenty-two ( = 22) players had body composition assessed with dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry at the beginning of the 2021 AFLW pre-season (whole-body and regional fat mass and lean soft-tissue mass [LSTM]).

Characterising lower-body musculoskeletal morphology and whole-body composition of elite female and male Australian Football players.

Background: Physical demands and injury rates differ between elite female and male Australian Football (AF) players. To improve understanding of contributing physical factors to these differences, the purpose of this study was to investigate lower-body morphology and whole-body composition of elite footballers competing in the Australian Football League (AFL) and Australian Football League Women's (AFLW).

Methods: Lower-body morphology and whole-body composition of 23 AFL players and 23 AFLW players were assessed using peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography and Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry at the beginning of pre-season.