AFL PLAYERS PUSH their bodies harder and faster than any other mainstream professional sportsmen in the world.
GPS data compiled from all 17 clubs last season returned 1653 individual files and showed that AFL players, on average, run 14km per match in the league’s biggest ground, Patersons Stadium in Western Australia.
At the MCG in Melbourne, that figure remains high at 13km meaning the likes of Tommy Walsh, Martin Clarke, Caolan Mooney and Zach Tuohy will be clocking up plenty of miles Down Under.
English Premier League teams run on average 11.7km per game, while Australia rugby league players cover between 8-10km, depending on what position they play.
In 2011, referees in 60 hurling and football championship games were monitored by DCU’s department of health and human performance and they covered distances of between 10-12km in each game.
Back in the AFL, St Kilda great Robert Harvey reportedly covered 19.6km in 2000 while Shane Crawford was tracked running 17km five years later.
Current-day AFL stars spend on average 5mins 25 secs per match running at speeds above 18km/h.