20 Feature
THE
GPS REVOLUTION!
Sparked by the possibilities of global positioning
satellites, technology is changing the game for coaches.
P
ICTURE this… you’re relaxing
at home watching Geelong
battle it out against Carlton at
the ‘G.
Ablett intercepts a long bomb in the
back pocket and tears down the wing
with Judd chasing him.
On your screen you can see that
Ablett is accelerating and reaches a top
speed of 30 kmh, just eluding Judd,
who can manage a top speed of only
28 kmh.
Meanwhile, you compare the heart
rates of both players and the distance
they have each run in the game to that
point.
This describes just a fraction of the
broadcasting potential with the use
of Global Positioning System (GPS)
technology in Australian rules.
GPS has been used in football
for several years. Initially, the AFL
restricted the number of players in a
team to be fitted with GPS to five, and
allowed monitoring for only 10 games
per year.
There is no longer any restriction and
teams like Geelong and Brisbane Lions
hook up every player at every game and
training session.
Adrian Faccioni, managing director
of GPSports Systems, which supplies
GPS systems to Geelong and Brisbane
Lions, said the technology enabled
coaching staff to accurately quantify
playing and training loads, to ensure
that players were training the way they
played, and helped in the tailoring of
training for each individual.
Faccioni said the device included
a heart rate monitor and an
accelerometer.
It utilises the United States satellite
system that surrounds the globe.
When you turn the device on it picks
up signals that are being sent from a
small number of satellites to work out
the precise position of each player.
When the player moves, the device is
able to calculate the distance and speed
the player has moved.
“The GPS is used in AFL to capture all
of the positions, speeds and distances
during a game or a training session,”
said Faccioni.
“We then combine this with their
heart rate, which is a measure of
the player’s physiological stress, and
the accelerometer, which measures
accelerations and decelerations to give
us a measure of the musculoskeletal
loading on a player.
“We combine those three things
(GPS, heart rate and body load) and
then stream that data live to a laptop on
the sidelines for club usage.
“The data can also go directly to
the broadcasters or can be sent to an
iPhone so the coach or trainer can see
the data live from anywhere that there
is internet access – even from the other
side of the world.”
What is described here is just the
tip of the iceberg with respect to the
potential of this technology.
Faccioni said his company used a
team of experts including hardware,
software and firmware engineers,
GOT HIM: Crow Brent Reilly wraps up Carlton’s Chris Judd.
exercise physiologists, sports scientists,
biomechanists and physiologists, all
working together on research and
development.
“Though a few years away yet, we aim
to be able to measure parameters such
as player lactic acid, core temperature,
glucose and pH,” he said.
“Once you can combine all of those
with the current technology, then you
get a really amazing toy.
“At the moment, we aren’t that far
away from allowing the viewer, even
in a stadium, to be able to log on to
their own phone and see their favorite
athlete’s performance stats while they
are watching the game.”
As with any technology, as new
models are released to market, older
models become less expensive. The
same is true of these GPS devices.
The SPI Pro X is the latest model to
Inside Football Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Dr Jodi Richardson
be released in March by GPSports at
a cost of around $30,000 for 10 units.
Clubs that fit out every player usually
buy 50 units.
This technology has no doubt
revolutionised player monitoring in the
AFL but as University of Technology
Sydney academic and Essendon sports
scientist Dr Aaron Coutts explains, it is
an excellent tool, but the key is in the
interpretation of the data.
“We use GPS to measure what we
have done but it doesn’t tell you how
well you have done it,” Coutts said.
“It is not a measure of football
performance. It tells you how far
you have run and how much of that
running is high intensity.
“It tells us if we are implementing
training how we intend and it gives
us an indication of the workload of
players in games.”
Coutts said some players covered up
to 17.5km in games and reached speeds
of up to 35 kmh, but he stressed that
running long distances and running
fast did not mean that the players had
necessarily played well.
“More hard running doesn’t
necessarily mean that you are
performing better as a footballer,” he
said.
“Research in soccer shows us that
teams that work the most are lower
ranked.
“To be more skillful allows you to
work less, conserve energy and perform
better as the match goes on.
“That’s why you want mature players
with good fundamental skills and
technical knowledge and a good team
game plan to make them efficient to
run out games better.
“In short, play hard and play smart.
“AFL is probably the most
demanding team sport so players need
to be physically very prepared and
technically proficient.”
What Coutts finds most impressive
about the data is seeing players who
are running at a high intensity for large
parts of the game.
With multiple interchanges, players
still need to be able to complete large
volumes of high intensity running to
be useful.
“It’s an impressive effort from players
running around 4km to 5km per
game at high intensity; this is usually
accomplished by our midfield players.”
Though speeds of over 30 kmh
are impressive, Coutts said that we
would see faster speeds if players were
sprinting for longer distances, but since
AFL is predominantly a game of short

‘The ball tracking enables a coach to … see
that a full forward made, for example, 30
efforts, but contested the ball with 10 of those
efforts and gained possession with five.’
sprints, we probably won’t see exactly
what some players are capable of in
terms of top speed.
At Essendon, GPS data is just part
of the decision making process for
interchange on game day.
A player may not be travelling far
or fast but still be working very hard
so ultimately that decision is made by
the coach.
Essendon finds the GPS data useful
for determining whether training is
mimicking match intensity, while the
data is also useful to determine what
an injured player has achieved in their
rehabilitation training and compare
how this relates to their previous
performance.
“There really is no limit to the
application of this measurement tool,
but the real skill is in knowing what
information is useful and applying
this information to your needs,” said
Coutts.
He and his colleagues have conducted
academic research into the validity and
reliability of GPS use in football.
They concluded that data from
different GPS devices should not be
used interchangeably, which means
that teams would be wise to always
allocate the same GPS unit to a player.
Other research examined running
performance in the AFL.
One of the most interesting
conclusions was that players who work
at higher intensity during a quarter
have a greater reduction in intensity
during the next quarter.
This is important to know when
considering interchange during a game.
Annually since 2005, Ben Wisbey
and his colleagues using GPS tracking
have published a report examining the
movement demands of hundreds of
AFL footballers.
SmartBall analysis features
Ball use graphic:
How a team is moving the
ball over the field. Are
they going through the
corridor or on the wings?
Are they getting held up
at the 50m mark?
The most recent report, published in
2009, shows that on average an AFL
player will cover around 12km per
game with an average speed of 7 kmh
and a top speed of around 30 kmh.
A player will typically engage in some
240 moderate accelerations and 10
rapid accelerations.
The report concludes that “nomadic
or midfield players have greater
physical demands than fixed forwards
and defenders”.
Originally, GPS technology focused
on the physical demands of AFL
football where emphasis was on data
including indications of player fitness,
effort and fatigue.
Though this information is still
integral to player monitoring and
coaching decisions for clubs, the
technology has now been extended
to significantly contribute data to the
tactical side of coaching.
minimaxX technology and software
developed by Catapult Innovations
offers clubs all of the physical data on
players but also allows the creation of
2D animations of player movement
relative to the ball and the sporting
field.
Catapult Innovations works
collaboratively with the Australian
Institute of Sport and is the major
supplier of GPS technology to AFL
clubs.
CEO Shaun Holthouse said that clubs
both in Australia and overseas were
very interested in this technology as
video footage did not provide a full
picture.
“The reason the clubs are interested
is that the video footage is typically ball
centric, focused on movement of the
ball so you can see what is happening
with the ball and a few metres around,”
Holthouse said.
Inside Football
Inside the game 21
“From a coaching point of view, what
you are really interested in is how the
rest of your team is structured outside
of that narrow bit of vision and how
they are preparing for the next passage
of play.
“You can’t get that from video. Even
sometimes when you do have footage
that covers the whole ground, it is
often not a clear representation of what
clubs are interested in, which is space,
movement and team structure.”
The 2D animation is simplified
and very easy to follow as players are
represented by a dot around a jumper
number.
The software also allows for
generation of “hotspot plots”, which
show where a player has spent his time
on the field.
White traces can be generated on the
on-screen field to show the movement
of players and multi-coloured traces
can be generated for players, where
each colour represents a different
speed.
This data is available wirelessly and
in real time. This way coaching staff
can access the data during the match.
Alternatively, it can be viewed after the
game or training session for analysis.
You may be beginning to wonder
how much more this technology
can advance Aussie rules, but the
innovation doesn’t stop there.
Catapult has teamed up with Sherrin
to create the “SmartBall”, which
integrates an “e-tag” inside the football,
which is then detected by nearby
minimaxX devices worn by players. SWEATING SCIENTIFICALLY: Bombers Brent Stanton (left) and Scott Welsh.
Since the ball is near the players most
of the time, the technology enables game together for coaching staff. of physical effort.”
accurate positioning of the ball. “A player may have put in a lot of SmartBall technology also allows
SmartBall can differentiate between effort in terms of total distance and coaches to analyse ball movement
who has possession from who is simply may have played at a high intensity but and possession chains with real-time
near the ball or contesting possession. that doesn’t necessarily mean they have tactical animations of play, as well as
The micro-technology within the had a good effect on the game,” he said. automatically measuring key stats like
Sherrin weighs only 5g. Since Sherrin “The ball tracking enables a coach to disposals in free or congested space.
footballs are made from leather, a tie in the physical effort of players and The technology will also be useful at
natural material, ball weight typically tactical aspects of the game where you training, enabling staff to monitor the
varies by 40-50 grams so the inclusion can see that a full forward made, for possessions of each player and adjust
of the e-tag is negligible. example, 30 efforts, but contested the their training load appropriately.
Shaun Holthouse, Catapult CEO, ball with 10 of those efforts and gained The SmartBall was launched in
said this technology helped to tie the possession with five. November 2009 and is now being
physical and tactical aspects of the “You can start looking at the efficiency trialed at several AFL clubs.
Zone defence graphic:
See the zone each
defender is protecting.
See holes in the zone
Wednesday, March 17, 2010