Profiling the kicking and handballing accuracy of female Australian football players across five competition levels

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Objectives To profile the kicking and handballing accuracy of female Australian football (AF) players and investigate potential differences across five competition levels.Methods Female AF players were classified into five competition levels: elite senior (≥18 years) (n=35), non-elite senior (≥18 years) (n=58), high-level junior (<18 years) (n=32), non-elite junior (14–17 years) (n=38), and non-elite junior (10–13 years) (n=42). Modified AF kicking and handballing tests examined accuracy outcomes. Competition level differences in accuracy were modelled using multivariate analysis of variance.Results A large, significant difference between the competition levels was noted (F=11.508, p<0.001, Wilk’s Λ=0.462, η2p=0.227), with significant differences (p<0.001) observed in the modified AF kicking (ω2=0.514) and handballing (η2p=0.150-0.250) tests. Elite seniors and high-level juniors performed the modified AF kicking test more accurately than all non-elite competition levels (p≤0.001). Elite seniors were also more accurate in the modified AF handballing test (dominant hand) compared to all non-elite competition levels (p≤0.001).Conclusions This study is the first to report technical skill characteristics in female AF across a broader participation pathway. These exploratory findings could be used as reference data for player development and inform training designs, namely by incorporating non-dominant handballing competitive play situations to develop this skill in female AF players.