PURPOSE: This study investigated the changes in match demands of Australian Football League Women’s (AFLW) athletes from the Adelaide Football Club (AFC) over four seasons (2021– 2023).

 

METHODS: Forty-six AFLW athletes who played at least one game for the AFC between 2021 and 2023 (two seasons in 2022) were included and grouped by position (forwards, midfielders, defenders, and rucks). Match demands were measured and collected using global positioning system (GPS) units (capturing at 10 Hz) fitted in a harness and positioned between the scapulae under the playing uniform. Game day data was downloaded from OpenField software (OpenField 1.14.0, Catapult Sports, Melbourne, Australia) and stored in a customised Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The following was extracted for each game: total distance (m), high intensity running (HIR) distance (m) (>19km/h), very high intensity running (VHIR) distance (m) (>21km/h) and sprint distance (m) (>24km/h). Velocity thresholds for HIR, VHIR and sprint were based on previous AFC data as a percentage of maximum velocity (HIR >75%, VHIR >85% and sprint >95%). Mixed linear effects regression models were used to examine the change in match demands over time for the entire cohort, and for positional groups (season 5-6, 6-7 and 7-8). For all analyses, players were considered as a random effect with season as a fixed effect.

 

RESULTS: A total of 1007 player match profiles from 48 games were analysed. Total distance showed no changes between seasons 5-6 (p>0.05). Total distance increased by an average of 346 m (95% confidence interval [CI] 179, 514 p=0.001) between seasons 6-7, driven by midfielders (401 m 95%CI 105, 696 p=0.011), defenders (457 m 95%CI 152, 762 p=0.007) and rucks (757 m 95%CI 233, 1282 p=0.010) where the forwards showed no changes (p>0.05). Total distance increased by an average of 991 m (95%CI 831, 1151 p=0.001) between seasons 7-8, driven by forwards (1018 m 95%CI 709, 1326 p=0.001), midfielders (1182 m 95%CI 907, 1456 p=0.001) and defenders (936 m 95%CI 616, 1265 p=0.001), however rucks decreased (527 m 95%CI -1160, 106 p=0.012). HIR distance decreased by an average of 30 m (95%CI -52, -8 p=0.008) between seasons 5-6, however no positional changes were observed (p>0.05). Conversely, HIR distance increased by an average of 69 m (95%CI 47, 92 p=0.001) between seasons 6-7, driven by midfielders (115 m 95%CI 71, 160 p=0.001) and defenders (63 m 95%CI 23, 103 p=0.012), while forwards and rucks showed no changes (p>0.05), and no changes were observed between seasons 7-8 (p>0.05). VHIR distance decreased by an average of 29 m (95%CI -42, -15 p=0.001) between seasons 5-6, however no positional changes were observed (p>0.05). VHIR distance increased by an average of 37 m (95%CI 23, 51 p=0.001) between seasons 6-7, driven by midfielders (69 m 95%CI 41, 96 p=0.001) where forwards, defenders and rucks showed no changes (p>0.05). VHIR distance showed no changes between seasons 7-8 (p>0.05). Sprint distance marginally decreased by an average of 4 m (95%CI -8, -0.5 p=0.046) between seasons 5-6, driven by defenders (14 m 95%CI -23, -6 p=0.001) where forwards, midfielders and rucks showed no changes (p>0.05). Sprint distance showed no changes between seasons 6-7 (p>0.05) and increased by an average of 4 m (95%CI 0.5, 8 p=0.046) between seasons 7-8, however no changes were seen at the positional level (p>0.05).

 

CONCLUSION: Over the four most recent AFLW seasons, all AFC positional groups increased in total distance where the midfielders and defenders increased in high-speed running. This suggests that a greater aerobic capacity, and tolerance to high-speed running is required in the current AFLW climate to manage increased match demands. This provides high-performance staff with an accurate representation of current AFLW match demands to guide future programming strategies at all levels of AFL as the competition continues to evolve.

 

Disclosure(s): The authors have nothing to disclose.