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Affiliation
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Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, Lidcombe, NSW, Australia. |
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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact forces of collision events during both attack and defence within elite rugby league match-play, and to compare the collision profiles between playing positions.
METHODS: Twenty-six elite rugby league players participated in this study. Player collisions were recorded using an integrated accelerometer within global positioning system units (SPI-Pro X, GPSports). Impact forces of collisions in attack (hit-ups) and defence (tackles) were analysed from 359 files from outside backs (n=78), adjustables (n=97), wide-running forwards (n=136) and hit-up forwards (n=48) over one National Rugby League season.
RESULTS: Hit-up forwards were involved in 0.8 collisions per minute, significantly greater than all other positional groups (wide-running forwards p=0.050, adjustables p=0.042 and outside backs p=0.000). Outside backs experienced 25% fewer collisions per minute than hit-up forwards. Hit-up forwards experienced a collision within the two highest classifications of force (≥10G) every 2.5 minutes of match-play compared to one every 5 and 9 minutes for adjustables and outside backs, respectively. Hit-up forwards performed 0.5 tackles per minute of match-play, five times that of outside backs (ES=1.90; 95% CI (0.26,3.16)) and 0.2 hit-ups per minute of match-play, twice as many as adjustables.
CONCLUSION: During a rugby league match, players are exposed to a significant number of collision events. Positional differences exist with hit-up and wide-running forwards experiencing greater collision events than adjustables and outside backs. Although these results may be unique to the individual team's defensive and attacking play strategies, they are indicative of the significant collision profiles in professional rugby league.
Language: en |