Credit score: Pixabay/CC0 Public Area
Because the Australian Soccer League Girls’s (AFLW) finals edge nearer, gamers throughout the league are making ready to push their limits. Now, new analysis from the College of South Australia reveals that AFLW gamers are pushing their bodily limits greater than ever earlier than.
Within the first research to research the altering calls for of AFLW athletes over the newest seasons (2022–2023), researchers have discovered that gamers are operating farther, overlaying extra distance at increased speeds, and accelerating extra usually.
Carried out in partnership with the Adelaide Soccer Membership, the research assessed GPS knowledge from 42 athletes throughout seasons six to eight (2022–2023), representing 777 player-match profiles.
The research is printed within the Worldwide Journal of Sports activities Physiology and Efficiency.
Key findings embody:
Complete operating distance elevated by 344 meters (season 6–7) and an extra 971 meters(season 7–8).
Excessive depth operating (higher than 19km/h) elevated by 70 meters per match (season 6–7), with midfielders rising by 122m.
Very excessive depth operating (higher than 21km/h) elevated by 36 meters per match (season 6–7), with midfielders rising by 70m.
Dash distance, most velocity, velocity, acceleration and participant load (a measure of how bodily demanding a match is on an athlete) additionally rose, with advances extra pronounced amongst midfielders and defenders.
Lead creator and Ph.D. researcher, UniSA’s Brooke Jenner, says understanding these adjustments is important for athletes and high-performance workers to correctly put together for the calls for of competitors.
“Since the AFLW launched in 2017, the game has changed enormously. Matches are longer, the rules and style of play have shifted, and players’ experience, skills, and tactical awareness have advanced dramatically,” Jenner says.
“Our research shows that since 2022, players have become fitter, run harder for longer and reach higher speeds more often. This suggests that improvements in talent pathways, training practices, and high-performance support are translating into stronger on-field performance. By understanding how the game is changing, coaches and high-performance staff can better tailor training programs to meet the physical demands of the modern AFLW competition.”
Analysis companion and Excessive-Efficiency Supervisor on the Adelaide Soccer Membership, Jordan Sellar, says the research reinforces the significance of ongoing enchancment to satisfy the rising bodily calls for of the AFLW.
“The AFLW continues to evolve every season, and with competition at an all-time high, we need to keep pushing our preparation and performance standards,” Sellar says.
“Understanding how the sport is altering is essential to delivering the suitable coaching and help for our athletes. Analysis like this helps guarantee our packages are primarily based on proof, not assumption. These findings spotlight simply how vital it’s for gamers to be uncovered to excessive depth operating calls for in coaching.
“As match intensity rises, so too must our focus on developing the peak strength and fitness levels required for success in the AFLW. Partnering with UniSA is one way we’re working towards this.”
The analysis staff additionally consists of UniSA’s Dr. John Arnold and Dr. Hunter Bennett, Swinburne College’s Prof Steven Milanese, and Adelaide Soccer Membership’s Darren Burgess.
Extra info:
Brooke Jenner et al, Evolution of Athlete Match Calls for Throughout 3 Australian Soccer League Girls’s (AFLW) Seasons, Worldwide Journal of Sports activities Physiology and Efficiency (2025). DOI: 10.1123/ijspp.2024-0414
Supplied by
College of South Australia
Quotation:
Rising calls for, rising efficiency: Australian Soccer League Girls’s gamers push limits in finals season (2025, October 21)
retrieved 21 October 2025
from https://medicalxpress.com/information/2025-10-demands-australian-football-league-women.html
This doc is topic to copyright. Other than any truthful dealing for the aim of personal research or analysis, no
half could also be reproduced with out the written permission. The content material is supplied for info functions solely.
