Understanding how player interactions impact sporting success can be a complex process, but it's a topic Deakin University PhD candidate Chris Young has tackled at length. Young's study sets about proving why the most successful teams are also

The four puzzle pieces to success, and what teams do wrong

Sep 10th, 2019 43m 27s

From playing in the TAC Cup alongside Josh Gibson and Andrew Carrazzo to coaching the Canadian national team and interviewing the sharpest minds in world sport, Cody Royle leads a fascinating life. Royle is now an author, podcast host and inter

The secret stats behind this week's four finals

Sep 4th, 2019 32m 25s

The AFL finals are upon us and everyone has an opinion on how this week's four matches will go. But setting aside all of our biases, what do the raw numbers tell us? Champion Data analyst Corey Mobilio has run his eyes over the key statistics t

Part science, part art: Insider explains how NBA teams problem solve

Aug 27th, 2019 45m 25s

Seth Partnow spent three seasons as the Milwaukee Bucks' director of basketball research before accepting a job this year with media juggernaut The Athletic. He rose from part-time blogger to in-demand NBA analyst, using his deep analytics know

Why more draftees aren't making an immediate impact

Aug 20th, 2019 33m 21s

There aren't many people better positioned to discuss the structures in place to produce future AFL draftees than Ryan O'Keefe. The ex-Swan came through the then-TAC Cup competition and transformed himself into an AFL star, before working in de

The joke that had to stop: When Gia realised he was a coach, not a player

Aug 13th, 2019 35m 16s

Daniel Giansiracusa has transitioned from Western Bulldogs playing great, to one of Luke Beveridge's coaching lieutenants, to now being in charge of the club's VFL team. There have been challenges at every stop, but the man they call 'Gia' had

Forward or defender? How personality decides your end of the ground

Aug 6th, 2019 35m 54s

Whether you're organising the backline or telling the forwards what to do, outsiders might think every coaching job is the same. St Kilda assistant Henry Playfair quickly discovered otherwise. He started his coaching journey overseeing Sydney's

Has the AFL's new kick-in rule been a success?

Jul 30th, 2019 23m 22s

The AFL's new kick-in rule has largely gone under the radar compared to the debate about the 6-6-6 starting positions. Teams are finding it harder to go inside 50 from a kick-in, and scores are down for the defensive and offensive team in that

Transforming average into extraordinary: how cohesive environments change players

Jul 23rd, 2019 34m 42s

Cohesion: the action or fact of forming a united whole. It's a word former Wallaby and Gain Line Analytics co-founder Ben Darwin has become an expert in as he challenges the way professional sporting teams chase success. The less teams change,

How virtual reality training could change the game

Jul 16th, 2019 31m 55s

When people hear the words virtual reality, they often relate them to video games. But this sophisticated technology actually has the potential to change the way elite athletes prepare. Damian Farrow, a former AIS skill acquisition specialist,

How to find AFL traits in junior athletes

Jul 9th, 2019 34m 56s

The importance of school football in the AFL pathway is all too often overlooked or downplayed. But one man who will never be accused of that is former AFL footballer and coach Robert Shaw, who coached Brighton Grammar to three premierships. Am

How Australia is leading the way in sports science

Jul 2nd, 2019 30m 55s

Player tracking data is the AFL's next frontier, and Victoria University professor Sam Robertson is one of the country's leading experts in the area. He travels regularly to the United States to present at conferences and meet with the world's

How the Cats won two games they should have lost

Jun 18th, 2019 28m 40s

Every football statistic you read and hear about comes from one source - Champion Data. The AFL's official number-cruncher has spent the past two decades giving great insight into the game and continually tries to make its offering more sophist

Understanding your player: The ex-Roo whose hardship makes him a better coach

Jun 11th, 2019 35m 41s

Leigh Adams played more than 100 games for North Melbourne, twice finished in the top five of the club's best and fairest, and was regarded as one of the competition's most courageous players. Sadly, he called time on his AFL career in 2015, af

How to rate players: What you see v what the numbers tell you

Jun 4th, 2019 28m 36s

The search for a competitive advantage in recruiting has seen AFL clubs increasingly turn to player analytics, although it still remains foreign to some. The idea is to remove bias from decision-making and to challenge the traditional thought p

Revealed: Why 2019's expected scoring fireworks haven't happened

May 28th, 2019 22m 30s

The fascination about how the AFL's new 6-6-6 starting positions would impact the game is now too often replaced by simplistic analysis about there being only a slight uptick in scoring from centre bounces. Instead, there needs to be a more edu

How the stars solve their fear of failure: goalkicking guru explains

May 21st, 2019 32m 3s

Goalkicking is a constant source of frustration within clubs, in the media, and in the outer with the fans. Players are fitter and stronger than ever, but goalkicking accuracy continues to slowly decline. So what's the issue? There is no bette

From walking wounded to grand finalists: How Pies rolled the dice at training

May 7th, 2019 22m 50s

Collingwood's unlikely run to the 2018 AFL Grand Final was documented in countless stories last year, but one piece of the puzzle is perhaps less known. Leroy Lobo worked for near on a decade in high performance at AFL clubs and understands wha

Hird, Clarko, Goodwin: The man the biggest names turned to

Apr 30th, 2019 20m 20s

At first inspection Luke Chambers might identify as your garden-variety AFL nuffie. He's an avid Hawthorn fan and tweets up a storm during every AFL round. But what many people may not know is that Luke spent nine years at 3 different AFL clubs

Footy jargon 101: Dirty balls, spitters and Clarko's cluster

Apr 23rd, 2019 20m 19s

We're five rounds into a revamped version of Australian Football at the highest level, complete with new rules and different conditions. The numbers tell us something's changed, but how much should we really be reading into them? AFL Coaching I

The evolution of football with the man who has seen it all

Apr 16th, 2019 19m 40s

Football 30 years ago was unrecognisable compared to the game we know and love today. It's why this week's guest Alan McConnell can offer a rare perspective on the evolution of the game.From being Fitzroy's last senior coach, to overseeing the

How a single trade can be years in the making

Apr 9th, 2019 29m 31s

Marc McGowan is joined by former AFL player and leading player manager Marty Pask to draw back the curtain on how the league's biggest trades really go down, discuss his coaching aspirations and share his thoughts on how the game has changed si

The numbers man

Apr 2nd, 2019 21m 27s

Marc McGowan is joined by St Kilda Senior Analyst Darren O'Shaughnessy to discuss how he and his team help the coaches look beyond the scoreboard to detect problems and trends on the field as they happen.

The role of the wingman in the AFL's new 6-6-6 system

Mar 26th, 2019 22m 29s

On the first episode of Trends, Marc McGowan is joined by AFL Coaching Innovation & Education Manager David Rath and AFL Umpiring & Game Analysis Lead Brett Munro to discuss the significant changes made to the AFL rules in season 2019, and what

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