Do physical qualities influence the attainment of professional status within elite 16–19 year old rugby league players?

Abstract

Objectives: The current study retrospectively compared the physical qualities of elite academy rugby league players (aged 16-19 years) by career attainment level (i.e., academy or professional). year old players may contribute to attaining professional status in rugby league. Further, the development of body mass and momentum for players within an academy is an important consideration in the progress towards professional rugby league. Therefore, practitioners should aim to identify and develop the physical qualities, especially size and strength, within academy rugby league players. Design

Anthropometric and Physical Qualities of Elite Male Youth Rugby League Players

“…under 17s, 176.9 ± 5.5 vs. 181.8 ± 3.1 cm) and body mass (e.g. under 19s, 87.5 ± 9.9 vs. 90.8 ± 9.7 kg) did differentiate between players who achieved professional or academy status [38]. Therefore, increased body size may not be advantageous until post 16 years of age, when increased height and development of body mass may influence player development and future career success because of the demands of the sport.…”

“…The lack of differences between age categories [17, 19–21, 23, 25] and limited change in longitudinal data in players in the under 13–15 [20, 22] and under 16–20 age categories [34, 38] suggest greater stability of skinfolds with age than with height and body mass. However, studies examining seasonal changes in sum of skinfolds [35, 40] show reductions during the season.…”

“…However, reduced skinfolds did not differentiate between future professional and academy players in the under 17–19 age categories (e.g. under 19s, 38.4 ± 15.6 vs. 36.9 ± 8.5 mm) [38]. Generally, such findings for body composition suggest that reduced body fat percentage seems advantageous for selection to higher playing standards in youth rugby league players.…”

“…Advanced acceleration has been associated with enhanced tackling ability in 16-year-old elite and sub-elite players [28], suggesting acceleration contributes to successful tackle performance and proficiency. In addition, the development of momentum (professionals 47 vs. academy 17 kg s −1 ) between under 17s and 19s [38] contributed to attaining professional status. Momentum may be linked to acceleration and has been shown to be related to successful carries per minute in under 15s, 16s and 17s [45].…”

“…multistage fitness test level; under 15, 10.6 ± 0.5 vs. 8.0 ± 0.6) [26], contributed to whether a player started a game [25], and discriminated between regional-and national-level players (see Table 2) [13]. Furthermore, advanced aerobic capacity contributed to future career attainment in players in the under 13–15 (amateur 47.6 ± 5.6 vs. professional 49.8 ± 4.6 ml kg −1  min −1 ) [14, 36] and under 17–18 age categories (Yo-Yo distance under 17, 1512 ± 299 vs. 1252 ± 262 m) [38]. This suggests that advanced aerobic capacity is an important physical quality for increased playing standard and long-term career attainment success.…”