Rugby league is a collision sport that requires high levels of strength, conditioning and speed. However, a school of thought often promoted is that high levels of strength (or continued training to maintain high strength levels) negatively impact upon aerobic conditioning levels and therefore the strongest players cannot cope with the long in-season playing demands [1]. This could mean the strongest players may not be available for selection for playoffs due to not lasting the season from injury. Dan Baker decided to compare the strength levels between players that were selected for the Grand Final vs. weren’t within the same club.
How Was This Analysed?
A total of 34 players were included in this study. 17 were selected to play in the Grand Final (GF) of the NRL versus 17 players from the same squad who were not selected or were unavailable due to injury (NSGF). All strength, body mass, height and age data was recorded at the end of pre-season (30 weeks prior to the GF). The tests were 1RM Bench Press and 1RM Full Squat.
What Did The Author Find?
All absolute and relative strength measures were significantly different between GF and NSGF groups with the GF group being stronger. This suggests that being stronger can potentially afford the advantage of being available for selection or not being injured immediately prior to the GF. It is important to note the GF group were significantly older than their NSGF counterparts, indicating age/playing experience as well as training age are potential discriminators when it comes to attaining the highest success in the NRL. Being stronger may also make you a more robust and injury resilient athlete. You will see in the NRL, the team that can field their best team for weeks on end (e.g. Cowboys basically playing their Grand Final winning team for the first half of the 2016 season) tend to sit higher up on the ladder. Having the ‘body armour’ and the strength to go along with it is what will greatly help protect you from soft tissue and contact injuries.
Further analysis was done comparing the GF and NSGF groups as forwards and backs. GF Forwards were significantly stronger and heavier than the NSGF forwards indicating the importance of strength among the positions in the forwards. This is most likely due to the high number of collisions these players are involved in where strength and body mass play a key role in winning the collision. GF Backs on the other hand showed no significant difference in strength compared to the NSGF backs. This could be explained by the fact that strength isn’t as much of a discerning factor in these positions as factors such as balls skills and speed due to the nature of the game.
An important note for all you shorter rugby league players out there. Once in an NRL team, height is less of a factor of success than more trainable factors like upper and lower body strength, playing experience and bone adaptations to prolonged exposure to the NRL [1]. So if you’ve got the skills but are vertically challenged, keep plugging away as height will not determine your success at the highest level compared to other physical factors.
Practical Applications
Use your preseason to get into the best physical shape possible. This does not mean running endless kilometres and thrashing yourself with different bootcamps. While conditioning is important, you need to be able to work your conditioning in conjunction with your strength and speed training in order to be at your strongest come the season start. An example preseason week may look like this:
Monday
AM: Speed
AM or PM: Heavy Lower Body Weights
Tuesday
AM or PM: Light Accessory Full Body Weights
AM or PM: Conditioning
Wednesday
AM or PM: Speed
Thursday
AM or PM: Light Accessory Full Body Weights
AM or PM: Conditioning
Friday
AM or PM: Heavy Upper Body Weights
Saturday
Optional: Conditioning
NOTE: This is just an example, there are many ways to structure a week and it is going to depend on your schedule, facilities, time, weaknesses, ability etc etc. Hire a professional to help you achieve this if you need to. Once you’re in season, strength is still a priority where your week can be split into one strength based session and one power based session to have you feeling fresh come your weekends game while still making progress. For example, a week may look like this assuming your games are always on Saturday:
Sunday
OFF
Monday
Low intensity aerobic work, recovery protocols as needed. Optional hypertrophy session if needed.
Tuesday
AM: Strength Session
PM: Skills + Conditioning
Wednesday
OFF
Thursday
AM: Speed + Power Session
PM: Team Run
Friday
Captains Run
I hope this gives you some idea of how important strength training is to rugby league and how you can structure your week to accommodate all the important aspects of fitness that relate to the sport. Being strong will help make you a more robust athlete to potentially be on the field more and therefore, have a greater chance of finals selection.