Despite Rugby League's high profile few scientific studies have been conducted on the movement patterns and workload of professional players – and no recent studies have been conducted to reflect changes in game rules – until now.

UTS PhD student and long time Rugby League fan Anita Sirotic is completing series of studies aimed at designing position-specific training programs and more effective testing procedures for players.

Using the Parramatta Eels as a case study, she has been comparing the movement patterns and physical demands required of specific positions in first and second grade Rugby League.

Forwards, backs, ball players, hookers and full-back positions each have different physical demands placed on them. But according to Sirotic training regimes do not always reflect this.

"Props often play a 20-minute half, have a break and then play another 20-minute half, but their stint often involves more sprinting and fast running. Full-backs on the other hand often play an 80-minute game but do not take part in as many high intensity activities," she said.

Sirotic and two research assistants attended all of Parramatta's home games for the 2004 and 2005 football seasons and filmed specific positions. The games were then viewed on a large screen complete with field dimensions.

As she watched, Sirotic marked where the players were on the field. She then placed the players' movements into categories of standing, walking, jogging, running or sprinting and analysed the amount of distance covered using a program called Sportstrak.

This enabled her to quantify the work demands and running patterns required of specific positions during competition. Sirotic was also able to identify when players were beginning to fatigue.

Her supervisor Dr Aaron Coutts from the School of Leisure, Sport and Tourism in the Faculty of Business said, "This information will be useful for coaches when determining how to use the interchange of specific players."

The data is currently being analysed to produce a position-specific running protocol using a custom-built non-motorised treadmill (that was developed in 2003 by Coutts, with US company Woodway and the Adelaide-based Fitness Technology company) that measures force and performance in athletes.

Once the protocol has been written, Sirotic will complete a training study on Rugby League players. "Our next step is to determine training methods that are specific to the game demands and then to develop strategies that can optimise training to improve running ability and hopefully match performance in Rugby League."

The concept has applications for training in other team sports as well. "It's a big step in terms of sports research and training. We've narrowed it down to Rugby League for the moment but it would be of benefit to any team sport," she said.