Online Training For Better Sports Performance

speed and power training for AFL players

Build Explosive Athleticism

The gap between a good AFL player and a great one is usually measured in centimetres and milliseconds. That gap opens up in the spaces where it matters most — the explosive acceleration off the line, the ability to decelerate into contact without losing position, the vertical power to compete in the air, the capacity to sustain those outputs through four quarters when fatigue sets in.

Most AFL training environments focus on skill work and game tactics. Speed and power training for AFL players sits in a different space entirely. It’s the physical foundation that makes technique coaching more effective, that helps prevent injury, and that gives your athlete that edge over opponents who are training just as hard but not as smart. Here at Acceleration Australia, we’ve spent 25 years building speed and power in athletes across multiple sports — and AFL players represent one of our most consistent focus areas. We understand the unique physical demands that code places on the body, and we’ve developed training approaches that produce measurable improvements in the qualities that translate directly to game performance.

Why AFL Demands Explosive Speed and Power

Australian football rewards athletes who can do multiple things explosively. It’s not just straight-line speed — though that matters. It’s the ability to accelerate rapidly in any direction, to decelerate hard into contact, to generate vertical power, and to maintain those capacities across a full game when legs are heavy and the opposition is relentless.

Think about what happens in a single AFL contest. A player reads the play, accelerates from a walking pace to near-maximum speed in three steps. They plant their feet hard and redirect their body weight across a lateral movement. They jump to compete in the air against an opponent. They absorb contact that would drop a lesser athlete. They repeat this cycle dozens of times across four quarters. The physical demands are extraordinary — and they’re almost entirely underpinned by speed, power, strength, and the ability to control your body through rapid deceleration.

The challenge is that traditional training often develops these qualities in isolation. Strength work happens in the gym. Speed work happens on the track. Power might get some attention in plyometric drills. At Acceleration Australia, we integrate these qualities because that’s how they need to function on field — as one connected system that responds to the chaos of live play.

The Physical Attributes That Drive AFL Performance

Speed and power aren’t single qualities — they’re compound physical systems made up of several components working together. Understanding what sits underneath performance helps you understand why some athletes plateau and others keep improving.

Acceleration mechanics is the first piece. Getting to maximum velocity quickly is what separates AFL players from recreational athletes. This isn’t about being the fastest person in a straight line — it’s about first-step quickness, about explosive power generated from a relatively static position, about the ability to cover ground immediately when the ball is loose or when you need to close down an opponent. We focus on how athletes load their body, how they drive through their first three steps, and how they create force through their legs and core during that critical acceleration phase.

Change of direction and deceleration sit at the heart of AFL demands. Players spend more time changing direction, slowing down, and redirecting than they do running in straight lines. Deceleration is where injuries often happen — when the body has to absorb force, control momentum, and redirect energy simultaneously. We teach athletes how to decelerate eccentrically through their quads and glutes, how to maintain stability through their ankles and hips, and how to control their centre of gravity during rapid direction changes. This is where strength and power integration becomes critical — you need the raw power output, but you also need the stability and control to harness it safely.

Vertical power and jump mechanics matter hugely in a code that rewards contested marks, boundary contests, and ruckman showdowns. Developing explosive vertical jump isn’t just about standing on a force plate and measuring how high you can leap. It’s about teaching the body how to store and release elastic energy, how to time your ascent, how to hold your body position at the peak of your jump, and how to land safely when you come back down. We’ve developed multiple plyometric progressions that build this quality systematically — from basic jumping mechanics through to sport-specific contested jump scenarios.

Sustained power is the quality that separates quarter one from quarter four performance. Many AFL athletes can produce explosive outputs early in a game. Fewer maintain those outputs when they’re fatigued. We train our athletes to develop both peak power output and the capacity to sustain that power across repeated efforts. That comes from a combination of strength foundation, cardiovascular conditioning, movement efficiency, and the mental toughness that power training builds.

Our Approach to Speed and Power Development for AFL

Every athlete who begins training with us at Acceleration Australia starts the same way: with a comprehensive Performance Testing Session before their first training session. We measure vertical jump, we run a 20-metre sprint and analyse the acceleration and top-speed components separately, we measure change of direction through a pro-shuttle test, we assess your functional movement patterns and flexibility, we identify any asymmetries or weaknesses that might limit your power output or increase your injury risk.

That testing data becomes the foundation of your program. We don’t write generic “AFL speed training” programs. We write a program specifically for you — based on your test results, your sport position (inside midfielder demands different qualities than a ruckman, who demands different qualities than a key forward), your current ability level, your age and development stage, and your specific goals. A 16-year-old junior developing toward representative level gets a fundamentally different program to a 24-year-old who’s already playing VFL or AFL, who gets a different program again from a 30-year-old trying to extend their career and manage recovery more carefully.

We deliver these programs in small groups with a coach-to-athlete ratio of 1:3. That ratio is intentional — it means every athlete gets individualised coaching attention, but you’re training alongside others which builds energy and motivation. Our coaches write programmes, demonstrate technique, provide real-time feedback on your movement patterns, and adjust intensity based on how you’re responding on the day.

Sessions flow through a consistent structure: dynamic warm-up and movement preparation, stability and activation work, speed or power development (the primary focus), strength integration, and cool-down with flexibility and recovery. This structure changes based on where you are in the season — pre-season work looks different to off-season work, and in-season sessions prioritise maintenance and injury prevention over peak development.

Here’s what our speed and power training programs for AFL typically include:

  • Acceleration mechanics drills focused on first-step quickness, explosive leg drive, and rapid force application
  • Change of direction and deceleration work including pro-shuttle variations, lateral bounds, and sport-specific direction changes
  • Plyometric progressions from basic jumping mechanics through to multi-directional explosive movements and contested jump scenarios
  • Strength and power integration using free weights, resistance bands, sled training, and body-weight exercises designed to underpin all the speed and power qualities
  • Core stability work that enables force transfer and prevents energy leaks during explosive movements
  • Running form and mechanics coaching to improve efficiency and reduce injury risk
  • Sport-specific conditioning that builds the capacity to sustain power outputs across repeated efforts
  • Recovery and flexibility work including dynamic stretching, trigger point therapy, and cooldown protocols

How Testing Cuts Through the Guesswork

Speed and power training fails when athletes and coaches can’t see progress. Without testing, you rely on subjective impressions — “I feel faster,” “I jumped higher.” That’s not enough to drive sustained improvement, and it’s not precise enough to identify when training isn’t working and needs adjustment.

At Acceleration Australia, we test again after your initial training block — typically four to six weeks depending on your program structure. That post-testing session gives you concrete data: your 20-metre sprint time, your pro-shuttle result, your vertical jump. You can see exactly what’s improved, what’s maintained, and where you still have work to do. More importantly, your coach can see it too. If your vertical power improved but your acceleration time didn’t, we adjust the program. If your left-leg single-leg power is lagging your right, we modify your exercises. Testing makes the program adaptive rather than static.

Many athletes train hard but don’t see the results they deserve because they’re chasing the wrong targets or training the wrong qualities. Testing removes that guesswork. It forces precision into training and prevents wasted effort.

Sport Position and Individual Variation in AFL

Not every AFL player develops the same way, and not every position requires the same emphasis on speed versus power.

Inside midfielders need exceptional acceleration and change of direction — they’re moving continuously, rarely getting above 80 per cent of their maximum velocity, but changing direction constantly. We emphasize acceleration mechanics, multi-directional agility, and the repeated-effort capacity to maintain speed through fatigue. We develop them as the athletes who thrive on rapid cognitive and motor decisions.

Key position players — forwards and rucks — often benefit from greater emphasis on vertical power, explosive strength, and the ability to decelerate and absorb contact. A key forward needs to be able to leap to mark, land safely, and absorb contact from a defender while holding position. A ruckman needs explosive vertical power combined with total body strength and stability. Speed still matters for these athletes, but the power and strength foundation tends to be the limiting factor.

Wingers and onballers need more balanced development — good acceleration for getting to contests, good sustained speed for chasing play, decent vertical power for contesting marks. Our programming for these athletes tends to cycle through different emphases depending on the phase of the year.

At Acceleration Australia, we work with individual athletes from all positions, and we program differently for each one. That’s the point of sport-specific, individually written training — it acknowledges that football is complex and athletes have different leverage points for improvement.

Building Speed and Power Across the Calendar Year

AFL training periodisation looks different to most sports because the season runs from February through to September, with pre-season starting as early as October. Off-season training sits from October to December, pre-season training from December to February, and in-season training from February to September.

Off-season is the time to push peak speed and power development. Intensity is high, competition is low, fatigue accumulates intentionally, and we use training blocks that build quite aggressively. This is where you make your largest gains in vertical jump, in acceleration speed, in maximal strength. We’re not worried about overtraining because recovery is prioritised and the athlete isn’t managing game fatigue simultaneously.

Pre-season transitions from peak development toward maintenance and readiness. We maintain the speed and power work but reduce volume slightly, we introduce more sport-specific conditioning, and we gradually build back into the demands of competitive footy. Intensity stays high but we’re managing training around game-simulation work and match fitness development.

In-season shifts to maintenance and injury prevention. We still do speed and power work — you can’t just stop and expect to maintain those qualities through a 23-game season — but sessions are shorter, intensity is managed around match demands, and recovery becomes paramount. We use skill-maintenance sessions rather than development sessions. The athlete is getting their main adaptation stimulus from playing football itself; our job is to maintain the physical foundation and manage fatigue.

This periodised approach is why training looks different when you’re in August versus October. A lot of athletes and parents ask us why sessions feel less intense in-season, or why we’re not smashing power work during Round 15. The answer is that programming serves the season, not the other way around. You develop hard in the off-season when you can afford to accumulate fatigue. You maintain during the season and manage recovery carefully.

Injury Prevention Through Strength and Stability

One of the underappreciated benefits of structured speed and power training is injury prevention. When you’re developing strength, stability, and movement control systematically, you’re simultaneously building resilience into the body.

A player with weak glutes is at higher risk of knee issues — their knees drift inward during deceleration, bearing loads they shouldn’t. A player with poor ankle stability is at risk of lateral ankle sprains. A player with weak core control is at risk of lower back issues and poor force transfer through their upper and lower body.

Our speed and power training addresses these vulnerabilities directly. We strengthen the muscles that protect joints. We teach the movement patterns that distribute force safely. We identify asymmetries — like a significantly stronger right leg than left — and address them before they become injuries. We also teach deceleration mechanics specifically, because that’s where many injuries occur.

It’s not that we’re providing injury rehabilitation — that’s a physiotherapist’s domain. What we do is build an athletic body that’s resilient, stable, and coordinated. That resilience is a natural outcome of good strength and power training.

Key Components of Effective AFL Speed and Power Programs

Our speed and power training for AFL works because it addresses the full system of qualities athletes need, it tests progress rigorously, and it adapts based on what testing reveals. Here’s what makes it work:

  • Individualised baseline testing that identifies exactly where each athlete sits on power output, speed, acceleration, and agility — then programs are written around those results rather than generic “AFL player” assumptions
  • Integrated training that develops speed, power, strength, and stability as one connected system rather than isolated qualities
  • Sport-specific programming that matches position demands — inside midfielders get different emphasis than key position players, different again from wingers
  • Periodised training that cycles through off-season development, pre-season transition, and in-season maintenance based on when the athlete needs to peak
  • Regular retesting that provides concrete evidence of progress and drives ongoing program adaptation
  • Movement quality emphasis that teaches efficient patterns and builds resilience while developing speed and power

At Acceleration Australia, Our AFL Speed and Power Approach

We’ve been working with AFL players — from junior club level through to VFL and AFL — since we founded Acceleration Australia in 2000. We understand the demands of the code intimately. We’ve trained players who’ve gone on to the Brisbane Lions, Hawthorn, and other AFL clubs. We work regularly with school representative programs across Queensland, and we support junior athletes who are aspiring to play the game at higher levels.

When an AFL player comes to one of our Brisbane or Gold Coast centres, here’s what happens: they undergo our comprehensive Performance Testing Session, which measures their acceleration, top-speed sprint mechanics, change of direction, vertical jump, and movement quality. That testing data tells us where their strengths are and where their development opportunities sit. We then write a program specifically for them — tailored to their position, their current ability, their age and development stage, and their specific performance goals.

From there, they train in small groups with our performance coaches — athletes with degrees in Sports Science or Exercise Physiology, many with accreditation from the Australian Strength and Conditioning Association. They follow a structured program that develops speed, power, strength, and stability integrated together. We test again four to six weeks later to see exactly what’s improved, and we adjust the program based on those results. That cycle of test-program-retest-adjust is what drives sustained improvement. It’s not magic — it’s systematic, scientific, and it works.

Many of our AFL athletes also access our online training programs through the AccelerWare platform if they can’t attend a physical centre, or if they want additional work during the off-season. These programs are sport-specific and written by our coaches with the same individual attention — video demonstrations of every exercise, coaching check-ins, and progress tracking.

Practical Steps Toward Building Speed and Power

If you’re an AFL player looking to develop your speed and power, or a parent supporting a junior footballer, here’s how to approach it strategically:

  • Start with testing, not guessing — find out where your actual speed and power sits before starting any program, so you know what you’re building from and can measure progress over time
  • Prioritise the off-season — if you want to make significant gains in speed and power, the off-season is when you do it, because that’s when you can accumulate training stress and recover intentionally without managing game fatigue
  • Understand your position demands — inside midfielders develop differently than key position players, and your program should reflect what your position actually requires on field
  • Get strong and stable as the foundation — speed and power work is built on a strong, stable body, so don’t skip the strength and core work even if power development is the main goal
  • Test regularly and adjust — training without testing is like driving without seeing where you’re going, so build retesting into your program schedule and let the data guide your decisions

Ready to Develop Explosive AFL Performance

The athletes we work with at Acceleration Australia come in with ambitions — to make their school team, to get selected for representative football, to develop toward VFL or AFL, or simply to be the fastest and strongest player in their club competition. Speed and power training gives you the physical tools to chase those ambitions seriously.

If you’re based in Brisbane or the Gold Coast, we’d love to work with you. Come in for a Performance Testing Session at one of our five centres — Brisbane Central at Auchenflower, Brisbane East at Chandler, Brisbane North at Sandgate, Brisbane South at Browns Plains, or Gold Coast at Southport. We’ll measure exactly where you sit, write you a program based on those results, and get you training with coaches who understand AFL demands intimately.

If you’re based interstate or internationally, our AccelerWare online training platform delivers the same science-backed programming. Sport-specific AFL programs, or fully customised training with video coaching check-ins — both are available from anywhere you can access the internet.

The improvement you make through structured speed and power training shows up on game day. You’ll feel it in your first-step quickness, in your ability to decelerate hard into contests, in your vertical power in marking competitions. You’ll feel the resilience in your body — fewer injuries, faster recovery, capacity to push harder through fatigue. That’s not motivational language — that’s what we see consistently when athletes commit to this work and let testing guide their progress.

We’re here when you’re ready to train smart, not just hard. Come and see what systematic speed and power development can do for your AFL performance.