The effect of Interchange rotation period and number on Australian Football running performance

To determine the effect of on-field rotation periods and total number of game rotations on Australian Football running performance, elite Australian Football players (n=21, mean ± SD; 23.2 ± 1.7 y; 183.5 ± 3.7 cm; 83.2 ± 4.5 kg) had GPS game data from 22 rounds divided into a total of 692 on-field playing periods. These periods were allocated into time blocks of 2:00 minute increments, with the log transformed percentage differences in running performance (m[BULLET OPERATOR]min) between blocks analysed by effect size and meaningful differences. A total of 7730 game rotation and associated average m·min combinations collected over three Australian Football seasons were also assessed by effect size and meaningful differences. Running capacity decreases after 5:00 minutes by ∼3% for each 2:00 minutes of on-field time up to 9:00 minutes, with variable responses between positions up to 6.7% for nomadic players. For each rotation less than six per game, clear small to moderate decreases up to 3.6% in running capacity occurred per rotation. To maintain a high level of running capacity, shorter on-field periods are more effective in Australian Football, however players and coaches should be aware that with interchange restriction, slightly longer on field periods achieve similar results.