What decisions do coaches make during professional Australian football matches? A qualitative content analysis

The aim of the study was to categorise coaches’ decision making during professional Australian Football matches by assessing messages they send to players. A secondary aim was to identify how messages change throughout a match, based on environmental constraints such as the score margin and the match quarter. Messages from three coaching groups at one professional Australian Football club were recorded during matches (n = 35) across two seasons of the Australian Football League. Qualitative content analysis was used to categorise coaches’ messages to players to generate five categories that describe aspects of team performance that coaches’ decisions addressed during matches: Movement and Positioning, Contest and Stoppage, Ball Movement, Feedback on Performance, and Personnel Change . The findings revealed varying use of the categories by the three coaching groups. Coaching group 2 sent a higher proportion of Contest and Stoppage messages than the other two groups, while coaching group 3 had sent a higher proportion of Personnel Change messages than the other coaching groups. This highlights the different areas of performance that coaches’ address through their messaging. Possible connections were found between the score margin, match quarter, and the types of decisions coaches made during matches, such as more Feedback on Performance messages being sent in the first quarter of the match and while the team was in a winning position. This study has implications for researchers and practitioners working with coaches who wish to categorise coaching communication during matches and reflect on decisions being made throughout a match.