Objectives To quantify movement competency in adolescent female rugby league athletes using the Athlete Ability Assessment and compare outcomes with age-matched male athletes to identify sex-specific differences. Design Observational, cross-sectional study. Methods Thirty female athletes (16.0 ± 1.0 years) competing in the Queensland rugby league competition completed the Athlete Ability Assessment (AAA), comprising six tasks, overhead squat, lunge, single-leg Romanian deadlift, and push-up. Task scores and total AAA scores (mean ± SD) were compared with a previously assessed age-matched males. k-means cluster analysis using the six task scores classified female athletes into lower- and higher-skilled groups. Between-sex and -group differences were assessed using Mann–Whitney U tests. Effect sizes were calculated using rank-biserial correlation coefficients (r) and interpreted as small (<0.30), moderate (0.30–0.49), or large (≥0.50). Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results Females demonstrated significantly lower total AAA scores than males (30.0 ± 7.9 vs. 34.7 ± 4.1, p < 0.001), with lower scores across all tasks except push-ups. Females scored higher on left and right single-leg lunge tasks (p < 0.001). Sex comparisons revealed moderate to large effect sizes across tasks. Sub-analysis identified distinct lower- and higher-skilled females, differentiated by overhead squat (r = 0.955), single-leg lunge (left r = 0.783, right r = 0.819), and total AAA score (r = 0.814). Conclusion At entry to the talent development pathway, female rugby league athletes exhibited lower movement competency than males, alongside substantial inter-individual variability. These findings support movement-competency-led, sex-specific strength and conditioning approaches. The AAA provides a practical tool to stratify athletes and guide safe progression toward higher-load strength and power training.
Grier et al. (Wed,) studied this question.