A League-Wide Evaluation of Factors Influencing Match Activity Profile in Elite Australian Football

Introduction: Accurate interpretation of activity profile data requires an understanding of the variables influencing player movement during matches. Methods: Over 65,000 stints (player rotations) from all 207 matches of the 2018 Australian Football League (AFL) season were evaluated. The relative activity profile including total distance per minute (TD), high-speed running distance per minute (HSR) and Player Load(TM) per minute (PL) was determined for each stint and analysed against a range of match-related, player-related and environment-related predictor variables using multivariate linear mixed modelling. Effect size statistics along with the uncertainty in the estimates (95% confidence interval) were used to interpret the findings. Results: The smallest important effects on TD, HSR, and PL were calculated as 1.5%, 5.5%, and 2.4%, respectively. Stint duration had small to moderate negative effects on TD (−6%), PL (−7.7%), and HSR (−13%), while recovery duration between stints had a small positive effect on HSR (+7%). There were moderate reductions in TD (−8%), HSR (−23%), and PL (−9.6%) in the last quarter compared to the first quarter of matches, while similar reductions existed in subsequent stints compared to the first stint in each quarter. Moderate to large differences of up to 9% in TD, 48% in HSR and 12% in PL existed between positions. The TD of less experienced players was slightly higher than their more experienced counterparts (2–3%). A 5% increase in body mass was associated with a small reduction in HSR (−5.5%). There were small reductions in TD (−2%), HSR (−10%), and PL (−3%) during the Finals Series compared to the Premiership Season. Moderate levels of rainfall during matches and higher apparent temperatures had small negative effects on TD (−2%) and HSR (−6 and −9%). The number of days break between matches, score margin, match outcome, ground hardness, ground size, and traveling for the current or the previous match had trivial effects on the activity profile. Conclusion: Player position and stage of the match (quarter) had the largest effects on match activity profile while stint duration, recovery duration, stint timing, professional experience, body mass, stage of the season, and weather conditions also had substantial effects.