Short report
Reactive agility of rugby league players

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Summary

While studies have investigated change of direction speed in rugby league players, no study has investigated the reactive agility of these athletes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the reactive agility of rugby league players, to determine if this quality discriminated higher and lesser skilled players. Twenty-four elite (mean ± S.D. age, 24.5 ± 4.2 years) and 42 sub-elite (23.6 ± 5.3 years) rugby league players completed a game-specific test of reactive agility. Elite players had better response accuracy (93.2 ± 1.9% vs. 85.5 ± 2.5%; p < 0.05, effect size = 0.58) and faster decision (89.5 ± 5.8 ms vs. 111.5 ± 6.4 ms; p < 0.05, effect size = 0.62) and movement times (2.35 ± 0.03 s vs. 2.56 ± 0.03 s; p < 0.05, effect size = 1.39) on the reactive agility test than sub-elite players. The reactive agility test was able to distinguish four distinct classifications. Specifically, players were classified as requiring either (1) decision-making and change of direction speed training to further consolidate good physical and perceptual abilities, (2) decision-making training to develop below average perceptual abilities, (3) change of direction speed training to develop below average physical attributes or (4) a combination of decision-making and change of direction speed training to develop below average physical and perceptual abilities. The results of this study demonstrate that a test of reactive agility discriminates higher and lesser skilled rugby league players. In addition, these findings highlight the important contribution of perceptual skill to agility in rugby league players.

Introduction

Given the importance of agility to rugby league players,1 several investigators have assessed this quality using a wide range of performance tests (e.g. ‘L’ run and 505 test).2, 3 However, a limitation of these tests is that they are all simple change of direction speed tests that rely on pre-planned movements. Although most practitioners would classify agility as any movement involving rapid change(s) of direction, agility has recently been defined as a rapid change of direction in response to a sport-specific stimulus.4 While the majority of agility research has been devoted to pre-planned change of direction speed tests, investigators have recently begun to study the perceptual components of agility.5, 6 In this respect, the ability of team sport athletes to ‘read and react’ to a game-specific stimulus has been tested. Sheppard et al.5 demonstrated that a test of reactive agility was able to successfully discriminate higher and lesser skilled Australian football players, where pre-planned change of direction speed tests did not. Farrow et al.6 reported similar results for netball players. Given the important contribution reactive agility tests have made to other team sports, it is likely that a test of reactive agility could significantly advance the understanding of agility in rugby league.

While investigators have studied speed and change of direction speed in rugby league players, no study has investigated the reactive agility of these athletes. With this in mind, the purpose of this study was to investigate the reactive agility of rugby league players, to determine if this quality discriminated higher and lesser skilled players.

Section snippets

Methods

Twenty-four elite (mean ± S.D. age, 24.5 ± 4.2 years) and 42 sub-elite (23.6 ± 5.3 years) rugby league players participated in this study. Elite players were members of a National Rugby League club while sub-elite players were registered with a recreational rugby league club.

The reactive agility test has been described in detail elsewhere.5 The player began on a marked line with timing gates placed 5 m to the left and right and 2 m forward of the start line.

The investigator stood opposite, and facing,

Results

Significant differences (p < 0.05) were detected between elite and sub-elite players for response accuracy, decision and movement times on the reactive agility test (Table 1).

Discussion

The purpose of this study was to investigate the reactive agility of rugby league players, to determine if this quality discriminated higher and lesser skilled players. The results of this study demonstrate that decision and movement times on the reactive agility test were faster in higher skilled players, without compromising response accuracy. The finding of superior anticipatory skill in the elite players of the present study suggests that these players had a greater ability to extract

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