title: Activity and recovery cycles and skill involvements of successful and unsuccessful elite rugby league teams: A longitudinal analysis of evolutionary changes in National Rugby League match-play.
abstract: We investigated changes in activity and recovery cycles and skill involvements: (1) during National Rugby league (NRL) match-play from 2004 to 2014 and (2) among successful and unsuccessful teams over the same period. Teams were divided into 4 tiers according to final ladder position: (A) 1st-4th, (B) 5th-8th, (C) 9th-12th and (D) 13th-16th. Total, mean and maximum ball-in-play time decreased, while recovery time increased from 2004 to 2014. Offensive and defensive skill involvements changed differentially over time with moderate to large reductions in the number of play-the-balls, offloads and missed tackles, and moderate to large increases in the number of passes, tackles made and ineffective tackles. The gap between Tier A and Tier D decreased for mean activity time and the proportion of short (<45 s) ball-in-play periods. Conversely, the gap between Tier A and Tier D increased for skill involvements, with Tier A completing more play-the-balls, and Tier D performing a greater number of offloads, and total, missed and ineffective tackles. Our results demonstrate the decreasing ball-in-play demands of NRL competition over 11 seasons. However, our data also highlight the narrowing gap in ball-in-play demands, and increasing gap in skill involvements between the top tier and bottom tier teams.
authors.affiliation: a Gabbett Performance Solutions , Brisbane , Australia.
authors.forename: Tim J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Gabbett
authors.affiliation: b School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences , University of Queensland , Brisbane , Australia.
authors.forename: Billy T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Hulin
mesh_terms: D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D003163:Competitive Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005538:Football / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013996:Time and Motion Studies
keywords: Performance analysis; team sports; time–motion analysis