Catapult signs aggregated deal with National Rugby League

Catapult, the world leader in elite sports performance analytics, has signed an aggregated contract with the National Rugby League (NRL), cementing the performance partner as a supplier of technology to NRL Clubs, NRLW Clubs, Australian representative teams, and match officials.

Following Australian aggregated partnerships with the Australian Football League (AFL), National Basketball League (NBL), and AFL Women’s (AFLW), the NRL contract runs for the next three seasons, with a performance-based option for a further two years.

NRL’s Head of Football, Graham Annesley, is excited about the opportunity to leverage world-leading technology to quantify athlete performance.

“This is a milestone agreement for the NRL. For the first time in the NRL’s history we will have an understanding of the league wide demands of the game in order to optimise performance and mitigate risk of injury.”

The deal cements the importance of performance analysis for rugby league, a sport which boasts global leadership in sports science application, and perfectly aligns with Catapult’s strategy according to the company’s Executive Chairman, Adir Shiffman.

“This partnership brings to life our strategic pillars of delivering our world-leading sports performance technology to elite teams, helping provide a pathway program for aspiring NRL players through the use of our technology, and leveraging live in-game data for fan engagement and commercial opportunities,” Shiffman said. “We feel we are really well positioned as the only technology platform in sport to drive performance and fan engagement outcomes for the NRL, and we look forward to working on this unique partnership.”

The deal coincides with the release of Catapult’s newest wearable technology solution, Vector, which will be launched in mid-2019 and deployed to teams for the 2020 NRL season. Catapult Vector delivers a new level of accuracy, usability, and efficiency to empower critical decisions about performance risk, and return to play.

Vector provides both indoor and outdoor tracking capabilities, utilising Catapult’s proprietary ClearSky Local Positioning System technology which provides pinpoint accuracy for tactical and media applications. ClearSky is installed around the playing area at ANZ Stadium, Suncorp Stadium, Perth Stadium, AAMI Park and Bankwest Stadium, and plans in place to roll out additional infrastructure installations at other venues within the NRL network.

This deal showcases Catapult’s ability to provide performance insights at a micro and macro level, following 10 years working with individual NRL clubs.

Click here to find out how Catapult’s technology can help your team find its competitive edge.