Factors associated with cooperative network connectedness in a professional Australian football small-sided game

Objectives Connectedness is a cooperative network measure that describes how well players in the team bi-directionally connect and how easily reachable they are to other players. It has been associated with an increased probability of winning competitive matches in professional Australian Football (AF), although applications towards training have not been reported. Therefore, this study investigated associations between constraints manipulated by professional AF coaches and the connectedness of cooperative passing networks during a small-sided game (SSG). Design Data were collected describing the task constraints manipulated by professional coaches across one SSG performed on multiple occasions. The SSG focused on transitioning between defence and attack and was performed fifteen times across a whole season, resulting in 36 observations of team connectedness. Method A linear mixed-effects model was constructed to examine the collective influence of constraints manipulations made by professional coaches (e.g. field size) and team skill characteristics (e.g. kick efficiency) on connectedness scores. Results The number of team shots on goal and the time on task both positively contributed to connectedness scores, explaining 65% of its variance. Conclusion The findings show that the number of shots on goal and the time on task may be used to elicit higher or lower connectedness scores in AF SSGs. Skill acquisition specialists, in conjunction with coaching staff, can use these metrics to aid practice design in professional AF or indeed other invasion-style team sports.