Match demands and physical qualities of female athletes in Australian football, rugby union, rugby sevens, and rugby league: a scoping review

This scoping review explored the physical qualities, and match demands of athletes participating at elite and sub-elite levels in four team-based collision sports played in Australia: Australian football, rugby union, rugby sevens, and rugby league. Fifty-nine studies were analysed to examine anthropometric traits, physical qualities, and match demands of female athletes across these sports. Comparisons were made between elite and sub-elite playing levels. A risk of bias and methodological assessment was also conducted. Findings suggest that elite athletes (as defined by the FTEM framework) in all sports, except rugby sevens, displayed greater height and body mass than sub-elite counterparts. Elite athletes in Australian football, rugby sevens, and rugby league demonstrated superior aerobic capacity, as measured by the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Level 1 (IR1) test. Elite rugby union athletes were faster over 10-metre acceleration efforts and had higher average one-repetition maximum (1RM) bench press scores. The risk of bias assessment showed that 60% of studies had ‘unclear’ or ‘high risk’ of confounding due to uncontrolled or unreported contextual factors. All studies had ‘low risk’ of bias in assessor blinding and selective outcome reporting. These findings highlight the importance of specific anthropometric traits and physical qualities, such as greater body mass, lean mass, and aerobic capacity, as well as performance outcomes like relative running intensity and peak velocity, in distinguishing playing levels. These attributes can inform talent identification, enhance performance, and guide training interventions for sub-elite and elite female athletes.