{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,2]],"date-time":"2025-08-02T19:12:23Z","timestamp":1754161943449,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"Human Kinetics","issue":"8","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p><jats:italic><jats:bold>Purpose<\/jats:bold>:<\/jats:italic> To investigate the changes in match demands of Australian Football League Women\u2019s (AFLW) athletes over the past 3 seasons (2022\u20132023). It was hypothesized that match demands would increase across all positional groups. <jats:italic><jats:bold>Methods<\/jats:bold>:<\/jats:italic> Forty-two athletes from 1 AFLW club who played at least 1 match across seasons 6 to 8 (2022\u20132023) were included. Match-day running demands including total distance (TD), speed, acceleration, high-intensity running (HIR; &gt;19\u00a0km\/h), very HIR (VHIR; &gt;21\u00a0km\/h), and sprint distances (&gt;24\u00a0km\/h) were exported from Catapult Vector S7 global positioning system units. Raw speed (in meters per minute) and acceleration (in meters per second squared) files were exported to calculate 1-minute rolling peak periods. Linear mixed-effects regression models were conducted with effect sizes (<jats:italic>d<\/jats:italic>) to examine changes in match demands over time for the cohort and playing-position groups. <jats:italic><jats:bold>Results<\/jats:bold>:<\/jats:italic> TD increased by 344\u00a0m (<jats:italic>d<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.33) between seasons 6 and 7 and 971\u00a0m (<jats:italic>d<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.72) between seasons 7 and 8 (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\u2009&lt;\u2009.001). HIR, VHIR, rolling 1-minute peak speed, and acceleration increased between seasons 6 and 7 by 70\u00a0m (<jats:italic>d<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.38), 36\u00a0m (<jats:italic>d<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.31), 5.1\u00a0m\/min (<jats:italic>d<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.15), and 0.04\u00a0m\/s<jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup> (<jats:italic>d<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.46), respectively (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\u2009&lt;\u2009.001), while no changes were seen between seasons 7 and 8. Total player load increased by 28\u00a0AU (<jats:italic>d<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.29) between seasons 6 and 7 and 80\u00a0AU (<jats:italic>d<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.54) between seasons 7 and 8 (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\u2009&lt;\u2009.001). <jats:italic><jats:bold>Conclusions<\/jats:bold>:<\/jats:italic> TD increased across seasons 6 to 8, whereas HIR, VHIR, rolling 1-minute peak speed, and acceleration only increased between seasons 6 and 7. While changes in TD may encompass factors such as rule changes, relative metrics including HIR and VHIR changed in this cohort. These findings provide a comprehensive evaluation of current AFLW match demands and will assist in future AFLW athlete preparation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1123\/ijspp.2024-0414","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,23]],"date-time":"2025-06-23T14:43:01Z","timestamp":1750689781000},"page":"1110-1123","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Evolution of Athlete Match Demands Across 3 Australian Football League Women\u2019s (AFLW) Seasons"],"prefix":"10.1123","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3486-4555","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Brooke","family":"Jenner","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Allied Health and Human Performance, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia"},{"name":"Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition, and Activity (ARENA), University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8541-9104","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Hunter","family":"Bennett","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Allied Health and Human Performance, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia"},{"name":"Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition, and Activity (ARENA), University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6470-3296","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Steven","family":"Milanese","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-8387-5499","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Jordan","family":"Sellar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Adelaide Football Club, Australian Football League (AFL), Adelaide, SA, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-5438-9327","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Darren","family":"Burgess","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Adelaide Football Club, Australian Football League (AFL), Adelaide, SA, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1158-8917","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"John","family":"Arnold","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Allied Health and Human Performance, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia"},{"name":"Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition, and Activity (ARENA), University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"100","reference":[{"year":"2017","series-title":"Australian Football League (AFL) Annual Report","key":"r1","unstructured":"Australian Football League. 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