Strength and power characteristics in English elite rugby league players

Comfort, P ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1131-8626, Graham-Smith, P, Matthews, M and Bamber, C 2011, 'Strength and power characteristics in English elite rugby league players' , Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 25 (5) , pp. 1374-1384.

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Abstract

The aim of this article is to present data on the strength and power characteristics of forwards and backs in a squad of elite English rugby league players and compare these findings to previously published literature from Australia. Participants were elite English rugby league players (n = 18; height 184.16 6 5.76 cm; body mass 96.87 6 10.92 kg, age 21.67 6 4.10 years) who were all regular first team players for an English Superleague club. Testing included 5-, 10-, 20-m sprint times, agility, vertical jump, 40-kg squat jump, isometric squat, concentric and eccentric isokinetic knee flexion and extension. Independent t-tests were performed to compare results between forwards and backs, with paired samples t-tests used to compare bilateral differences from isokinetic assessments and agility tests. Forwards demonstrated significantly (p , 0.05) greater body mass (102.15 6 7.5 kg), height (186.30 6 5.47 cm), power during the 40-kg jump squat(2,106 6 421 W), isometric force (3,122 6 611 N) and peak torque during left concentric isokinetic knee extension (296.1 6 54.2 N�m) compared to the backs (86.30 6 8.97 kg; 179.87 6 3.72 cm; 1,709 6 286W; 2,927 6 607 N; 241.7 6 35.2 N�m, respectively). However, no significant differences (p . 0.05) were noted between forwards and backs during right concentric isokinetic knee extension (274.8637.7 and 246.8625.8 N�m), concentric isokinetic knee flexion for both left (158.8 6 28.6 and 141.0 6 22. 7 N�m) and right legs (155.3 6 22.9 and 128.0 6 23.9 N�m), eccentric isokinetic knee flexion and extension, hamstring quadriceps ratios, or vertical jump (37.25 6 4.35 and 40.33 6 6.38 cm). In comparison, relative measures demonstrated that backs performed significantly better compared to the forwards during the 40-kg jump squat (20.71 6 5.15 and 19.91 6 3.91 W�kg21) and the isometric squat (34.32 6 7.9 and 30.65 6 5.34 N�kg21). Bilateral comparisons revealed no significant differences (p . 0.05) between left and right leg performances in the agility test (3.26 6 0.18 and 3.24 6 0.18 seconds), or between left (0.7 6 0.10) and right (0.71 6 0.17) leg eccentric hamstring concentric quadriceps ratios. The results demonstrate that absolute strength and power measures are generally higher in forwards compared to in backs; however, when body mass is taken into account and relative measures compared, the backs outperform the forwards.

Item Type:	Article
Themes:	Health and Wellbeing
Schools:	Schools > School of Health and Society > Centre for Health Sciences Research
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research
Publisher:	Human Kinetics
Refereed:	Yes
ISSN:	1064-8011
Depositing User:	RH Shuttleworth
Date Deposited:	01 Jun 2011 09:36
Last Modified:	16 Feb 2022 11:34
URI:	https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/15865

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