The aim of this thesis is to explore the influences and contributions of Māori to the establishment and development of the sport of rugby league in New Zealand. The overarching question of this thesis is how have Māori influenced and contributed to the development of rugby league in New Zealand? This thesis examines the international social history of rugby league from the origins of rugby league as a sport following the split in rugby union in England through to the contemporary status of Māori within the game as an elite sport in New Zealand and overseas. By examining Māori involvement in rugby league it is my intention to place Māori at the centre of the explanation for the establishment and development, past and present, of the sport in New Zealand, and also globally. While there have been some previous accounts of the affiliation between Māori and rugby league (Coffey and Wood, 2008; Greenwood, 2008; Falcous, 2007) this thesis compiles accounts from disparate sources in order to outline the history of Māori involvement and achievement in the development stages of rugby league. Key areas of focus for this thesis include the early Māori tours of 1908 and 1909, the development of the New Zealand Māori Rugby League as an independent entity separate from the New Zealand Rugby League and the contemporary influences of Māori on rugby league. This thesis will show that the early Māori tours were crucial to the development of Australian, New Zealand and, to an extent, British rugby league. It will also provide insight in to the inclusive nature of rugby league through the inclusion of Māori initiatives such as the development of a Māori Rugby League. The final section of this thesis will draw on the contemporary influence that Māori have on the sport through an examination of player migration and how Māori have emerged as a ‘donor culture’ providing high numbers of elite athletes to the world’s premier rugby league competitions. It can be argued that the mobility of Māori, in the form of touring teams and migrant players, has sustained the sport internationally while paradoxically, and simultaneously, depleting the game domestically. In this account Māori emerge, not as an appendix in a history of the game but rather as a crucial donor culture for the establishment and continued success of rugby league.

Rugby league is an international collision sport. Players complete physically demanding activities such as running, tackling and passing which often result in musculoskeletal injuries. Injury rates increase as playing level increases. From 1999 to 2007 there were 42,754 rugby league claims costing Accident Compensation Corporation $48,704,704. Moderate to severe injury claims (MSC) represented 14% of these claims but 88% of costs. New Zealand Maori recorded significantly more injury claims and total injury entitlement costs than all other ethnic groups. Soft tissue MSC injuries were common (47%) for females. Concussions accounted for 70% of total rugby league injuries to the head while the knee represented 23% of total injury claims and 20% of injury costs. Neck and spine injuries accounted for 6% of total MSC injury claims but 16% of total MSC costs. In video analysis of 80 games at international, national and youth competition levels, 50% of tackles involved tacklers from behind the visual fields of the ball carrier, either two or three tacklers, and contact with the mid-torso or hip-thigh region. From the prospective injury analysis of one professional team over two consecutive years, tackle-related injuries occurred more to the ball carrier when tackled at shoulder or mid-torso height, in their blind vision, with two or more tacklers, and in the fourth quarter of matches. Tackle-related injury type and site varied by positional group. Hit-up forwards and outside backs recorded more tackle-related injuries as the ball carrier than the tackler. In the prospective study of 63 amateur rugby league players, 80% of players injured as a result of match or training activities saw a health professional as part of their rehabilitation. Team coaches asked players to return to rugby league activities in 28% of cases for training participation and 29% of cases for match participation. In the cross sectional study assessing 95 rugby league support personnel's first aid, injury prevention and concussion knowledge, only 2% achieved an 80% pass mark, 39% incorrectly stated loss of consciousness was required for concussion and only 24% of coaches had a rugby league coaching qualification. This PhD research has contributed knowledge regarding costs and characteristics of injuries to amateur rugby league participants analysed by ethnicity, gender, injury site and injury type. Changes in anthropometric characteristics and speed in regards to incidence of injury, characteristics of tackles in match situations and common tackling positions and positional groups where injuries occur, player perspectives on why they return from injury to participation in rugby league, and the lack of first aid knowledge for rugby league personnel, have all been described.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Edith Cowan University, 2007. / "Including: 1. Testing and the relationship of upper body muscular strength, power, speed and strength-endurance to playing position and status in professional rugby league players; 2. Acute training methods that affect the development of upper body muscular power; and 3. Chronic adaptations - the nature, scope and methodology of long-term adaptations in upper body strength and power."--T.p. Submitted to the Faculty of Computing, Health and Science. Includes bibliographical references.

This study monitored a cohort of youth rugby league players from one professional club in England, across three competitive seasons (under-15 to under-17 age group). The aims were to establish which dimensions of growth and performance characterized players who were either coach-selected or unselected each season and to evaluate annual developments in growth and performance. It was also necessary to establish the credibility of various measurement techniques that are implicated in the talent identification process. In the assessment of sprint performance, GPS measurements systematically underestimated both distance and timing gate speed but can be used to reliably evaluate sprint performance, particularly for measurements of peak speed (95% Limits of Agreement (LoA) = 0.00 ± 0.8 km·h-1; CV = 0.78%). Using a larger sample of youth team sport players (n = 60), multiple linear regression analysis, incorporating mean and peak GPS speeds as predictors of timing gate speed, yielded a prediction model that was able to provide a valid alternative to timing gates in the assessment of sprint performance over 30 m. With regards to the reliability of assessments of sport-specific skill in youth rugby league players, no comparisons met the pre-determined analytical goal of ‘perfect agreement’, meaning that up to 56% of players’ skill could be misinterpreted. The credibility of such assessments should be questioned and alternative tests considered. In the period between the under-15 and under-16 group, there were large annual increments in speed (5.02 Δ%), force (13.82 Δ%) and power (19.85 Δ%) generated over 10 m sprint intervals and predicted vertical jumping power (13.02 Δ%), with concomitant developments in body mass (5.14 Δ%), lean body mass (3.20 Δ%) and predicted muscle of the quadriceps (10.12 Δ%). A discriminant function analysis also highlighted 30 m force and 10 m acceleration as significant predictors of selected players in the under-15 group and under-16 group, explaining 47.3% and 40.7% of the between-group variance, respectively – which was the case independent of age at peak maturity. However, there were 5 no differences between selected and unselected players in the under-17 group. During match time, there were differences between selected (57.1 ± 11.9 min) and unselected (44.1 ± 12.3 min) players for average playing interval in the under-16 group. In turn, selected players covered more total distance (5181.0 ± 1063.5 m c.f. 3942.6 ± 1108.6 m, respectively; P = 0.012) and high intensity distance (1808.8 ± 369.3 m c.f. 1380.5 ± 367.7 m, respectively; P = 0.011) than unselected players. When age at peak height velocity (PHV) was statistically controlled, only distance in zone 3 and summated-HR remained higher in the selected players of the under-16 group. Conversely, higher values amongst the unselected under-16 players for total and relative distance in zone 4, 5 and high intensity were revealed. There was a relationship in the under-15 group (R = 0.702, P < 0.001), under-16 group (R = 0.607, P < 0.001) and under-17 group (R = 0.671, P < 0.006) between the number of successful ball carries and 10 m sprinting force, thus supporting the use of 10 m sprinting force as a predictor of match performance. The relationship (r = 0.51, P = 0.044) between aerobic capacity and HIT·min-1 in the under-17 group also provides preliminary evidence of aerobic endurance as a potential predictor of match running intensity. It was concluded that players who are coach-selected are not characterized by match related performance variables but are offered greater match exposure during the under-16 age group, resulting in larger running distances. Unselected players are unrewarded for higher intensity running during matches when maturational age is statistically controlled and are also equally effective in regard to tackling and ball carrying outcomes. These results collectively indicate the inability of match performance measurements to contribute to talent identification processes in players of this type. The changes in growth and performance should be used to guide talent development practices of rugby league coaches. In particular, the assessment of force (i.e. the product of acceleration and body mass) should be considered as an important factor in differentiating between higher and lower ability players, as well as relating to match performance.

Masters Research - Master of Philosophy / Introduction Forty-six elite adolescent male rugby league players (12-17 years) participated in a nine-week study to determine the effects of three exercise training programs on 0-30 metres sprint running time and bounds performance (10 bounds). Subjects were randomly assigned to a rugby league fitness group (F) n=12, a sprint group (S) n= 14 and a sprint-bounds group (SB) n= 20. Forty-two subjects completed the study. Methods Separate sessions for fitness, speed, and bounds were conducted once a week for nine weeks. To determine the effect of training a two-way analysis of variance was performed, followed by post-hoc paired t-tests to allow pairwise comparisons when significant interactions were found. Significance was set at p<0.05. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS for Mac (version 13.1). Effect sizes were calculated to evaluate the meaningfulness of observed changes. Results Moderate improvements (p<0.05; 5%) were observed in both the F and SB groups over 10 m. Speed changes over 30 m differed more among the groups. The F group recorded moderate (p<0.01; 4%) improvements, small improvements (p<0.01; 3%) in the SB group and trivial difference (p<0.05) in the S group. The F and S groups improved by approximately 7% (p<0.01) in bounds performance over 10 bounds whereas the SB group improved by approximately 10% (p<0.01) in bounds performance over 10 bounds. Group S had faster sprint times (p<0.05) prior to training compared to groups F and SB. Discussion All three programs led to improvements in sprint speed and bounds distance, but the extent of the improvements varied with the specificity of the training program and pre-training performance level. Groups F and SB had 4-5% improvements in sprint speed over 30 m whereas group S showed relatively trivial changes. In all groups, the improvements were greater over 10 m and least over 30 m. Bounds distance improved more than sprint speed, and the greatest improvement was achieved in the SB group compared to the F and S groups. Conclusion Rugby league training (game specific drills and extended efforts) coupled with the various components of physical activity can improve speed and power as effectively as specific speed and power training in adolescent boys. Training for acceleration can selectively improve 0-10 m speed more than 0-30 m speed. Sprint and bounds training have been shown to be safe and effective methods to increase speed and power in this group of adolescents.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2009. / Title from title screen (viewed 10 Dec. 2009). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

Concussions are a problem in competitive sports with growing concern over the acute and long-term consequences of repetitive head trauma. Participation in sport increases risk of concussion, particularly contact sports including rugby, hockey and football (Harmon et al., 2013). In rugby league, there are between 8.0-17.5 concussions/1000 player hours, representing roughly 10-15% of all injuries in the sport (Gardner et al., 2015). Shoulder, head, hip and knee are reported to be the most common regions that impact the head and are responsible for the greatest number of concussive injuries in rugby (Cusimano et al., 2013; Fuller et al., 2010; Gardner et al., 2014; Toth, Mcneil, & Feasby, 2005). In each of the common injury events reported in elite men’s rugby, there are unique combinations of impact conditions which include effective mass, compliance, velocity and location of impact. The head-to-head event represents a low mass, low compliance event, whereby the hip and shoulder-to-head collisions represents high mass, high compliance events. Scientists have conducted research in an effort to describe incidence and mechanisms of concussive injury in rugby, however, little is known about the biomechanics of head injury in the sport (Fréchède & Mcintosh, 2009; Fréchède & McIntosh, 2007; McIntosh et al., 2000). The purpose of this thesis is to characterize dynamic response and brain tissue deformation for (1) hip-to-head, (2) shoulder-to-head, (3) knee-to-head, and (4) head-to-head concussion events in men’s rugby. Twenty-nine (29) impact videos of diagnosed concussive injuries associated with the four common injury events were reconstructed in the Neurotrauma Impact Science Lab. Head-to-head impacts were reconstructed in this study using a pendulum system, while hip, shoulder and knee to head impacts were reconstructed using the pneumatic linear impactor. Results of this study demonstrate that the common injury events resulting in concussion in elite men’s rugby have different dynamic response characteristics. Head-to-head events produced significantly greater peak linear and peak rotational acceleration, however no significant differences in maximum principal strain between the injury events. Results of this study can be useful in reducing rates and severity of concussive injury in rugby.

The effectiveness of recovery interventions following prolonged multiple sprint team sports matches has rarely been studied despite the potential for exercise-induced muscle damage to adversely affect training in the days following games. The lack of research related to this topic is probably owing to the wide variability that exists in the movement demands of players between matches and the impact that this has on the subsequent rate and magnitude of recovery which makes it difficult to detect meaningful differences when conducting research with small sample sizes. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis was to develop a rugby league-specific match simulation protocol that replicates the movement demands, physiological responses and subsequent recovery from matches in order to study the effectiveness of recovery interventions. Hence, two time-motion analysis studies were conducted using a semi-automated image recognition system to inform the development of the rugby league match simulation protocol (RLMSP). Whilst mean total distance covered over the duration of the match was 8,503 m, ball in play and stoppage work-to-rest ratios were 1:6.9 and 1:87.4, respectively, for all players. Furthermore, a significant decline in high and very high intensity running locomotive rates were observed between the initial and final 20 min periods of the match. Thus a RLMSP was devised to replicate the overall movement demands, intra-match fatigue and recovery from a senior elite rugby league match. Not only was there a low level of variability in the movement demands during the RLMSP over consecutive trials, but with the exception of creatine kinase, the rate and magnitude of recovery following the RLMSP was similar to that that has been published following competitive matches. Therefore, the RLMSP devised in this thesis may be a more appropriate research tool for assessing the effectiveness of recovery interventions following match related exercise than following actual match play.

The principal aim of this study was to create longitudinal profiles (1988-2002) for the games of rugby union and rugby league football in order to identify whether changes in time, offence, defence and game action variables, and positional and game performance indicators were a reflection that the two codes of rugby were 'converging'. Anecdotal evidence had suggested that due to certain administrative developments within this time frame many facets of the two games were becoming similar, thereby spawning the notion of a future single, unified game of 'rugby'. This thesis presents the first empirical and objective assessment of whether such convergence has occurred. The data for this study were extracted from 48 video-taped recordings of First Grade rugby league and International rugby union in the Northern hemisphere over the specified time frame. The matches were identifiable by Era (pre-/post-professional) and Period (1988-92, 1993-95, 1997-99 and2000-02). Key aspects of play or performance were distinguished via game models and expert opinion and were scrutinised via a series of specifically designed and validated hand notation systems. Initial analysis considered (and established) the reliability of these systems, thereafter parametric and non-parametric inferential statistical teohniques were employed to identify Era and Period effects within each Code, with the additional analyses to consider the effects of Game Result and Game Quarter Outcomes. The findings from these analyses, particulaily the observed increase in ball in play time, changes at the ruck, maul, and lineout, and alterations in defence patterns of play, have provided a strong argument that the two Codes underwent a discernable degree of convergence over the years being considered. It was concluded that the introduction of professional playing status (rugby union), the summer playing season (rugby league), and law changes were likely causes of the two games being now similar in many respects. Although additional analyses should be encouraged to corroborate the present findings, the case for the development of a single Code of rugby can now be made.

The purpose of this study was to determine the contribution of different in-season strength and power training frequencies to strength and power performance over the course of a 22 week rugby league competition period. Twenty-eight male (n=28) participants, with both high and low strength pre-training status, were divided into three groups following a 15 week pre-season strength and power training programme. A four week periodised in-season strength and power training programme, with intensities ranging from 75-100%, was cycled for the 22 week competition season. Strength and power training was conducted one day.week(-1) by the first high pre-training status group (HTFL, n=11), and two day.week(-1) by the second high pre-training status group (HTF2, n=9). The low pre-training status group (LTF1, n=8) performed the same strength and power training frequency and programme as HTF1. Training intensity (% 1RM) and volume (sets x repetitions) of in-season strength and power training sessions were standardised for both groups during each training week. Strength, power, and speed data were collected pre-season, and four times during the in-season period. No differences were found between HTF1 and HTF2 in performance variables throughout the 22-week in-season period. Both HTF1 and HTF2 displayed similar significant detraining effects in strength, power, and speed, regardless of in-season training frequency (p<0.05). LTF1 showed no change from pre-season strength and power performance following 22 weeks of the competition period (p<0.05). It was concluded that in-season strength and power training frequency may have a limited role in determining the success of the in-season strength and power training programme in highly trained footballers. The results of the present study suggest a number of factors other than in-season strength and power training frequency may affect in-season strength and power performance and detraining in high strength pre-training status athletes. The effect the start of a competition period has on dynamic athletic performance needs further investigation.