Technical performance in elite women’s Australian football – comparisons with men’s football, identifying important performance characteristics and apparent trends

Abstract

There is a need to establish normative values for technical performance indicators (PI) in the relatively new Australian Football League Women's (AFLW), to identify trends, to compare with the established men's league, and associations with match outcome. Data from the 2019 AFL (men's) season and the 2017-19 AFLW (women's) seasons, included the normalised (to 60 minute) match totals for 23 technical PIs and five score-based PIs. The values of 23 PIs were different (p < 0.05) between the women's and men's leagues. These differences suggest that women make fewer disposals (passes) to teammates, they make more errors and contest possession of the ball more often. Consequently, AFLW teams move the ball to within 50 metres of their goal and score less often. There are eight PIs that appear to be on a trend of increase in the AFLW. The relationships between the characteristics of team technical performance and match outcome are similar between the leagues, although contested possession is more important in the AFLW. Technical performance of the athletes in the women's league is different to men, but some of these differences appear to be narrowing. Despite the differences, the relationship between technical performance and match outcome are similar in both leagues.

An investigation of data-driven player positional roles within the Australian Football League Women's competition using technical skill match-play data

“…These include disposals, disposal efficiency, contested and uncontested possessions, marks, marks inside 50, contested marks, inside 50s as well as contributions from key players in a team. 5,6,8 While the aim of this research differs in objective to these precedents of Black et al, 5 Cust et al, 6 and Dwyer et al, 8 overlap can be seen in important variables. The importance of variables of disposals, kicks, disposal efficiency/effective disposals, and contested possession were still evident in determining clusters through the methodology applied in this research even when accounting for the additional locational component in this analysis.…”

“…5,6 The findings of these match-play studies have the potential to support coaches regarding player performance development and match-play tactics, which at the start of the AFLW had been derived from the perspective of the male equivalent Australian Football League (AFL). 7 The AFLW competition has developed greatly in the first years of its existence, with the preliminary investigation of Dwyer et al 8 showing an increase in match-play performance metrics over subsequent seasons (2017-2019 seasons). 9 This has been suggested to be attributable to a variety of factors including the greater opportunities for talent development associated with the establishment of an elite league, new youth pathways, and increased facilities and expertise.…”

“…The AFLW competition has developed greatly in the first years of its existence, with the preliminary investigation of Dwyer et al 8 showing an increase in match-play performance metrics over subsequent seasons (2017–2019 seasons). 9 This has been suggested to be attributable to a variety of factors including the greater opportunities for talent development associated with the establishment of an elite league, new youth pathways, and increased facilities and expertise.…”

“…9 This has been suggested to be attributable to a variety of factors including the greater opportunities for talent development associated with the establishment of an elite league, new youth pathways, and increased facilities and expertise. 7,8 Player positional roles are anticipated to also evolve, reflecting the development of match-play performance. Statistically significant differences in physical and technical match-play performance by player position have been reported in both the men's 10,11 and women's games.…”

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

“…It is likely that sufficient body mass (comprising muscle and fat) is required to absorb these forces and protect players from injury. Given the elite women's game is characterized by a greater proportion of contact injuries ( 9 ), and more contested possessions, tackles and stoppages per minute of play than the elite men's game (all of which increase the frequency of collisions) ( 5 ), it was hypothesized that greater muscle and body mass (as opposed to its composition) would be associated with higher match availability and performance ( 5 , 30 ). However, in our study, no body composition characteristic, including total body mass, was associated with in-season match availability, suggesting other factors may be more influential in this relationship.…”