“When they’re kicking, is anyone being a little bit lazy in the middle of the field? Maybe instead of taking that hit-up, pass it to a player further infield because that might be an opportunity to put a fast back against a slower forward.”
In its current state historical data can be pulled from previous fixtures, but it would be revolutionary for the game if used in real-time during an NRL game.
“You can grab a whole bunch of data from a whole bunch of areas, put it into an application and then put massive compute power behind that application and then ask it some pretty interesting questions.... It gives a greater level of insight than we’ve ever had before,” said Paris.
While the use of data-driven decision-making is nothing new in the world of professional sports coaching, American sports like the NFL have been leaders in the use of data, Paris says he is unaware of any NRL clubs using technology in such a way.
Webster need not fear for his job, though, as Paris was adamant there is no substitute for human intuition when it comes to rugby league.
“You can’t beat understanding the dynamics about a player, about how they’re going to fit within the team. You can’t beat understanding the culture of the person. AI is not going to be able to tell you who’s going to be the next superstars coming through.”
