Summary While studies have investigated change of direction speed in rugby
league players, no study has investigated the reactive agility of these athletes.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the reactive agility of rugby league
players, to determine if this quality discriminated higher and lesser skilled players.
Twenty-four elite (mean±S.D. age, 24.5±4.2 years) and 42 sub-elite (23.6±5.3
years) rugby league players completed a game-specific test of reactive agility. Elite
players had better response accuracy (93.2±1.9% vs. 85.5±2.5%; p < 0.05, effect
size = 0.58) and faster decision (89.5±5.8 ms vs. 111.5±6.4 ms; p < 0.05, effect
size = 0.62) and movement times (2.35±0.03 s vs. 2.56±0.03 s; p < 0.05, effect
size = 1.39) on the reactive agility test than sub-elite players. The reactive agility test
was able to distinguish four distinct classifications. Specifically, players were classified
as requiring either (1) decision-making and change of direction speed training
to further consolidate good physical and perceptual abilities, (2) decision-making
training to develop below average perceptual abilities, (3) change of direction
speed training to develop below average physical attributes or (4) a combination
of decision-making and change of direction speed training to develop below average
physical and perceptual abilities. The results of this study demonstrate that a test
of reactive agility discriminates higher and lesser skilled rugby league players. In
addition, these findings highlight the important contribution of perceptual skill to
agility in rugby league players.