Duration-specific running intensities of Australian Football match-play

Objectives To establish the position and duration-specific running demands of Australian Football (AF) competition for the prescription and monitoring of specific training drills. Design An observational time-motion analysis was performed on 40 professional AF players during 30 games throughout the 2014–15 competitive seasons. Methods Player movements were collected and peak values were calculated for moving averages of between 1–10 min in duration for relative distance (m min−1), high-speed relative distance (HS m min−1), average acceleration/deceleration (m s2) and metabolic power (Pmet). A mixed-model analysis was used to detect positional differences, and differences were described using a magnitude-based network. Results 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 ± 35 m min−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. Conclusions 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.