Validity and Reliability of a Kicking Skill Test to Benchmark Talent Development and Identification in Australian Football: A Professional Senior and Elite Junior Comparison

Australian Football (AF) is a fast-paced contact invasion sport that requires players to execute a variety of kicks to effectively pass the football and score a goal. Current assessment of elite senior kicking skills in AF is confined to isolated and static skill tests that do not adequately represent match-like skill demands. The purpose of this study is to overcome the test design issues currently present in elite senior testing protocols, within the applied setting, and assess the validity and reliability of a modified Level-3 Australian football field-based dynamic kicking assessment (AFFB-DKA) for senior elite AF players. Construct validity was assessed using 24 elite football players (12 elite seniors and 12 national juniors) with a comparison of mean test scores across different skill standards. The results demonstrated a significant difference between elite-senior and national-junior groups (<i>p</i> = <.001). Test-retest reliability was assessed with the national-junior group (<i>n</i> = 12) over two consecutive sessions. Mean scores demonstrated an ICC value of 0.95 (CI 0.85-0.98) and a CV of 4.9%. This study demonstrated a high level of construct validity by effectively distinguishing the kicking skill between elite-senior and elite-junior skill groups. The modified AFFB-DKA also possessed an acceptable level of reliability and thus provides coaches, recruitersand sport science staff with a measurement tool to effectively assess kicking skill performance in elite senior AF.