Abstract
Objectives
To describe the movement patterns of the Australian Women’s Rugby League team during
international competition.
Design
Retrospective observational study.
Methods
Global Positioning Systems technology recorded the movements of players from the Australian
Women’s Rugby League team (n = 31) during seven international rugby league matches. A subgroup of players (n = 18) that played at least 80 min in a match were categorized into three positional groups: forwards (n = 7), backs (n = 7) and halves (n = 4), and analysed for external outputs that were classified into multiple speed zones.
Mean speed (m min−1) and mean speed when travelling >12 km h−1 (MS12; m min−1) were calculated for each 10% interval of playing time of both groups to assess changes
in match intensity.
Results
Total distance travelled was greater in the first half (3332.9 m compared to 3249.0 m), along with distances travelled at speeds >15 km h−1 (p < 0.05), whereas players travelled further at speeds <6 km h−1 in the second half (p = 0.005). Backs travelled further at speeds <6 km h−1 (p = 0.002) and >15 km h−1 (p = 0.007) compared to forwards. Mean speed significantly reduced across the first and
second halves (p < 0.05), while MS12 reduced by ∼40% in the first half of the match (i.e. first ∼5 min compared to the last ∼5 min).
Conclusion
These results provide coaches with sport-specific activity profiles of female rugby
league players that can be used to individualise training prescription. Given that
match-intensity deteriorated across the first and second halves, programs may be targeted
at improving endurance and supramaximal exercise tolerance in order for female players
to withstand high match-demands of international competition.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 18, 2019
Accepted:
October 15,
2019
Received in revised form:
August 19,
2019
Received:
May 3,
2019
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
