GPS variables most related to match performance in an elite Australian football team

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify which GPS variables are most related to Australian football (AF) physical performance. Data was collected from thirty-five professional AF players over 11 games early in the 2013 Australian Football League (AFL) season. Match performance was measured by the Champion Data© Player Rank (PR) and coaches’ ratings (CR). Variables were sampled at 10Hz and partial correlations adjusted for game time were calculated between all variables and both performance measures, by position. Variables that displayed the highest partial correlations with both performance measures were used in a stepwise regression to identify the most relevant to performance. For the nomadic group, a negative relationship (P<0.05) was found between walking (distance and # entries) and PR. For the fixed players, a negative relationship (P<0.05) was evident between sprinting (# entries) and PR. However, a positive relationship (P<0.05) was found between CR and HSR (% time) and sprinting (distance). This indicates that the GPS variables that most relate to performance depend on the performance measure employed by coaches.