Phases of Match-Play in Professional Australian Football: Positional Demands and Match-Related Fatigue.

This study examined the influence of player position and match quarter on activity profiles during the phases of play in Australian Football. Global positioning satellite data was collected for one season from an Australian Football League team for nomadic, key position and ruck players (age: 24.8 ± 4.

Factors associated with cooperative network connectedness in a professional Australian football small-sided game.

Objectives: Connectedness is a cooperative network measure that describes how well players in the team bi-directionally connect and how easily reachable they are to other players. It has been associated with an increased probability of winning competitive matches in professional Australian Football (AF), although applications towards training have not been reported. Therefore, this study investigated associations between constraints manipulated by professional AF coaches and the connectedness of cooperative passing networks during a small-sided game (SSG).

Collective behaviour in high and low-level youth soccer teams.

Background: An expert/non-expert paradigm often helps understand the underpinnings of sports expertise; however, this method is scarcely extended to the complexities of collective behaviour in youth soccer.

Aim: Therefore, the objectives of the current study are to investigate differences in the collective behaviour of youth soccer teams by expertise level.

Methodology: Soccer players aged 15 to 20 years from high (n = 35) and low (n = 40) playing levels competed in two age-matched 5v5 small-sided games.

Tactical analysis of individual and team behaviour in professional Australian Football.

Introduction: This study sought to reduce the dimensionality of commonly reported spatiotemporal characteristics obtained from Australian Football games to facilitate their practical use and interpretability.

Methods: A retrospective longitudinal design was utilised with team and individual spatiotemporal variables, measured via global navigation satellite system devices, collected during official Australian Football League matched over three seasons. Two separate principal component analyses were conducted at the team and individual level to reduce correlated spatiotemporal characteristics into a smaller set of uncorrelated components.

A holistic analysis of collective behaviour and team performance in Australian Football via structural equation modelling.

Despite awareness of the importance of quantifying technical, tactical, and physical characteristics of match play, few studies have examined the structural relationship of these aspects in professional sport. Accordingly, this study concurrently examined these components in relation to quarter outcome (n = 272) in Australian Football. The study followed a retrospective longitudinal case study design where one teams' cooperative passing network, skill counts, physical loads, and spatiotemporal behaviours during official Australian Football League games were collected from a period spanning four seasons (2016-2019).

Match simulation practice may not represent competitive match play in professional Australian football.

Match simulation in team sport should sample representative constraints and behaviours to those observed in competitive matches to enhance near skill transfer. This study compared task constraints (field length, field width, length per width ratio, space per player), time-standardised skill metrics (goals, shots on goal, handballs, kicks, marks, turnovers, tackles, handball proficiency, kick proficiency) and cooperative passing metrics (connectedness, indegree variability and outdegree variability) between match simulation practice and competitive Australian Football League (AFL) games for one professional team. MANOVAs identified activity-related differences for task constraints, skill metrics and cooperative passing networks.

Improving the interpretation of skill indicators in professional Australian Football.

Objectives: This study aimed to provide a simplified, novel method for analysing technical skill involvements in an Australian Football context by reducing the dimensionality of commonly reported skill counts obtained from Australian Football League (AFL) games. This may facilitate their practical use and interpretability.

Design: Retrospective longitudinal design where individual players' technical skill counts were collected over three seasons of official AFL games.

Physical Determinants of Golf Swing Performance: A Review.

Sheehan, WB, Bower, RG, and Watsford, ML. Physical determinants of golf swing performance: A review. J Strength Cond Res 36(1): 289-297, 2022-Traditionally, golf practice has primarily focused on the mental, technical, and skill aspects as the primary means to improve performance.

Using cooperative networks to analyse behaviour in professional Australian Football.

Objectives: Reducing the dimensionality of commonly reported complex network characteristics obtained from Australian Football League (AFL) games to facilitate their practical use and interpretability.

Design: Retrospective longitudinal design where individual players' interactions, determined through the distribution and receipt of kicks and handballs, during official AFL games were collected over three seasons.

Methods: A principal component analysis was used to reduce the number of characteristics related to the cooperative network analysis.

Relationship between vertical stiffness and soft-tissue injuries in professional Australian football.

Soft-tissue injuries are common in Australian football. Recently, literature has identified non-modifiable and modifiable risk factors, including vertical stiffness (K). However, limitations regarding measurement frequency and duration exist; thus, further information is required about the role of K as a modifiable risk factor for injury.

The effect of water-based plyometric training on vertical stiffness and athletic performance.

Since higher vertical stiffness is related to superior athletic performance, training has traditionally been aimed at augmenting this variable to enhance neuromuscular output. However, research has linked elevated stiffness with increased injury risk, therefore, this study examined the effect of a novel training intervention on vertical stiffness and athletic performance. Vertical stiffness, jump performance and athletic performance were assessed in two randomly allocated groups, prior to, and following, an eight-week period.