Movement Patterns and Match Statistics in the National Rugby League Women's (NRLW) Premiership

Tim Newans; Phillip Bellinger; Simon Buxton; Karlee Quinn; Clare Minahan

doi:10.3389/fspor.2021.618913

Movement Patterns and Match Statistics in the National Rugby League Women's (NRLW) Premiership

Front Sports Act Living. 2021 Feb 11:3:618913. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2021.618913. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Tim Newans^{1

2}, Phillip Bellinger^{1

2}, Simon Buxton³, Karlee Quinn^{1

2}, Clare Minahan¹

Affiliations

¹ Griffith Sports Science, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
² Queensland Academy of Sport, Nathan, QLD, Australia.
³ National Rugby League, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Abstract

As women's rugby league grows, the need for understanding the movement patterns of the sport is essential for coaches and sports scientists. The aims of the present study were to quantify the position-specific demographics, technical match statistics, and movement patterns of the National Rugby League Women's (NRLW) Premiership and to identify whether there was a change in the intensity of play as a function of game time played. A retrospective observational study was conducted utilizing global positioning system, demographic, and match statistics collected from 117 players from all NRLW clubs across the full 2018 and 2019 seasons and were compared between the ten positions using generalized linear mixed models. The GPS data were separated into absolute (i.e., total distance, high-speed running distance, and acceleration load) and relative movement patterns (i.e., mean speed, mean high speed (> 12 km·h^-1), and mean acceleration). For absolute external outputs, fullbacks covered the greatest distance (5,504 m), greatest high-speed distance (1,081 m), and most ball-carry meters (97 m), while five-eighths recorded the greatest acceleration load (1,697 m·s^-2). For relative external outputs, there were no significant differences in mean speed and mean high speed between positions, while mean acceleration only significantly differed between wingers and interchanges. Only interchange players significantly decreased in mean speed as their number of minutes played increased. By understanding the load of NRLW matches, coaches, high-performance staff, and players can better prepare as the NRLW Premiership expands. These movement patterns and match statistics of NRLW matches can lay the foundation for future research as women's rugby league expands. Similarly, coaches, high-performance staff, and players can also refine conditioning practices with a greater understanding of the external output of NRLW players.

Keywords: GPS; external output; female; load monitoring; match demands; mixed model.