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Footy’s technology takeover ...
iCoaching! A modern coach must be up with the latest technology writes Dr Jodi Richardson in part three of a series.
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NYONE having contact with teenagers has probably wondered how on earth you ever got by without mobile phones and the internet. It’s incredible to think that even when I did my undergrad degree in the early 1990s, I did it the “old fashioned” way by reading books and searching journals in the library. There is no doubt that technology has changed almost every aspect of our daily lives, and the same can be said for football. So far in this series on technology in the AFL, we’ve looked at how it has impacted on sports science, medicine, umpiring, communication, broadcasting and equipment. This final installment looks at how technology has influenced two other aspects of the game, coaching and betting. Greater Western Sydney senior assistant coach Mark Williams marvels at how technology has changed the role
of a coach over the years. Williams was born with coaching in his blood. His father, the late Fos Williams, was a veteran of the game as a player and coach. In 1996 Fos Williams was inducted into the AFL Coaching Hall of Fame and by the sounds of it, he was well ahead of his time. “Back in the 1970s when I was about 10 or 12, Dad used to get my sister, my brother and I to sit in the grandstand and each plot the movements of one or two midfielders on a piece of paper,” Williams said. “What Dad used to do was miles before its time and I learned a lot by his innovation.” Naturally, Williams was a talented player and finished his playing career after an impressive 380 games. As a player Williams first experienced the use of video analysis, the technology that surpassed the handwritten version of player analysis. “In my early days at Collingwood,
in 1981, Tommy Hafey gave me a tape after a game,” he said. “It was an individual tape of just me. It was really interesting but you couldn’t see what the other players were doing, even if they were kicking for goal, so I got a bit anxious about how much time I spent walking around with no game context. “The video was taken by a standalone man in the grandstand. Video was taken of one to two players per game; there was never any chance of the team being recorded. “Nowadays, we get it automatically, players are tagged by Champion Data in real time and that information is available to us immediately in the coaches’ box. “We need to sort through the information to get the gems out of it and change a tactic, move a player or swing the game using the analysis. “The game plan and key performance indicators you are looking for at each game will determine what sort of data proves most useful.” Williams explains that the technology available in the coaches’ box enables the coaching staff to make changes as Inside Football
new information becomes available. If the GPS information shows that a player is reaching his threshold, he might be taken off for a spell on the bench. If the stats show that an opposition player has a certain number of possessions, this gets red-flagged and the coaches can make decisions that they hadn’t planned before the game. Williams adds that all discussions in the box are recorded on an iPad or iPhone on game day so a post-mortem can determine what the line of thinking was during all decision making, and how effective it turned out to be. Technology is also used heavily at training, where there can be two-way communication between a player and a coach and coaches can listen to how much the players talk to themselves and teammates around or off the ball. Recently the Giants have been trialling the use of video sunglasses so they can capture footage from the view of the player. Williams emphasises that coaches are teachers and to be a good teacher you must embrace technology. X to feel comfortable “Coaches need
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
with the range of technologies used but I don’t care what you’ve got, how many fancy things you have, you need to be able to sort it out and make it clear and precise to the players,” he said. Williams worked professionally as a secondary teacher for 10 years, while he also played footy, and so has been trained how to teach and has had plenty of grassroots experience doing so. He explains that as a coach, you need to use all of the latest technology that you would see in a modern classroom including computers and interactive whiteboards. “You have to present well and make it interesting,” he said. “Presentations need to be exciting for the players so we use a combination of keynote, music, video and still shots to put together our presentations to players to get the point across. “Technology is a major element of coaching and through the coaching courses people are becoming more and more aware of how to use it.” Williams adds that it’s not just being capable of using the technology but knowing how to teach the information to make it easily understood.
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Comparing them (GWS) to the Gold Coast at the same time I’d say they are a little bit more advanced defensively. They seem like they have been coached very well. – Daniel Giansiracusa on Morning Glory
TRADITIONAL COMMUNICATION: Mark Williams (left and above) barks instructions. INSET: Fos Williams.
‘Presentations need to be exciting so we use a combination of keynote, music, video and still shots to put together our presentations to players.’ – MARK WILLIAMS He spends countless hours preeverything, you have to learn it on paring his presentations at home your own as well,” Williams said. and considers every aspect of the The GWS gym is fully equipped presentation, right down to the with all of the different football best backgrounds, font, colours shows beamed into them, plus and font size. information about team rules or Giants players are also given a the latest game edits so players can lot of responsibility for their own view these while they work out. learning. Looking to how technology may As the Giants are big fans of be used in coaching in the future, Apple technology, all players have Williams suggested runners could MacBook Pro computers and have earpieces so that directives iPhones. can be given to them anywhere on Williams said the appeal of the the ground to make information Apple products was the way they transfer to players more efficient displayed graphics and video. and save the runners returning to “Our players can check the game the bench for instructions. plan, edit their own tapes. There He also suggested that a GPS unit is a massive emphasis in our club in the players’ jerseys would be an Run Homeyou IF 10 x 7.pdf 4:08:27 PM on self-learning, can’t be told13/02/2012 improvement on players wearing
the harnesses that place the GPS unit between their shoulders. Williams also described a currently available technology yet to be implemented for the AFL called Prozone. This technology can measure GPS, heart rate, and individual vision of every player on the field. Prozone is an interactive tool that enables coaching staff to analyse physical, tactical and technical performance information. Players can be viewed making decisions off the ball and also in relation to other players. To be used, the Prozone technology would need to be installed into every tower of every AFL ground in the country, which could cost up
HERE IS ANOTHER aspect of football that has been transformed by technology. Most betting agencies now have internet sites that you can visit using a web browser on your computer, tablet or smartphone. These secure optimised sites make it easy to check out live sports and racing odds, deposit and withdraw funds from your account, view your betting history and place both local and international bets – 24/7 – no matter where you are. Advances in communications technology have fuelled the development of mobile betting capabilities and changed the betting industry beyond recognition. In the early days of sports betting, there were about four bookies in the Melbourne ring fielding on sports. Betting was conducted face to face and collection of winnings happened in person, on the course after the event, or at the next gallops, harness or greyhounds meeting. Nick Heathcote, sports manager at Betstar, explains that the internet has changed the face of betting. “It was the mid 90s when the internet boomed in Australia and shortly after betting was made available online for punters,” he said. “It’s better for punters as the commission the bookmakers take out is less; it used to be 8 per cent and can now be as low as 2.5 per cent. “Events are 24/7 and are worldwide from tennis to politics. Mobile betting is the next big thing. Statistical information is readily available and payouts are almost instant.” Heathcote explains that technology has given punters more of a choice about the timing of their bets. “The big issue in betting at the moment for punters and operators is the restriction of live trade over the internet,” he said. “It’s called ‘in run’ betting and means that punters can bet while a game is in progress. “It equates to 90 per cent of overseas bookmaker’s holdings, but in Australia it’s the other way around where we hold 90 per cent of bets before a game begins.” In Australia, online “in run” betting is permitted only for the gallops but not for sports bets including bets on AFL games. For “in run” betting on sports, bets must be placed over the phone, however, this may soon change as Australia’s online gambling
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Odds are this industry will only get bigger
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
laws are coming under review. “It’s ridiculous that online ‘in run’ sports betting is only permitted for the gallops; sports markets are more liquid as the event lasts longer than two minutes, which is about the length of most horse races,” Heathcote said. “An AFL game goes for 2.5 hours and odds move slower; the odds may change at every goal, where in a horse race, the odds change every 50 metres.” He said the benefit of “in run” betting for punters was that they had more information when placing their bets. “If it were to be allowed, punters will know who is playing, see the weather conditions and get a feel for the game,” he said, “rather than have a big-name player pull out before the match and possibly do their money cold.” Twitter sites are aplenty if you’re into betting. There’s no shortage of people and betting organisations dedicating their tweets to sharing odds, relevant news, tips and insights to help punters make the most informed bets. Though technology has buoyed the AFL betting industry no end, the AFL this season has moved to curb its influence. The AFL has responded to increasing criticism by banning live scoreboard betting updates at Melbourne venues for 2012. It is highly likely that the same bans will apply at other AFL venues around the country in due course.