- AI expert explains how technology will change coaching
- AI will soon provide coaches with data to counter tactics
Leading experts predict the impact of artificial intelligence on the job market will be far-reaching and could also transform the way the AFL is coached.
CEO of the AFL’s official analytics provider Champion Data, Tim Kelsey, believes AI technology will significantly change the way Australian football is coached, and this will happen in the near future.
“At some point, a computer using artificial intelligence would be able to reason about what’s happening in the game and what it could do to counteract what’s happening,” Kelsey said. CODE Sports.
‘But people get nervous when you go down this route – “Oh, it doesn’t allow you to think for yourself” – so we talk about data-informed decisions for a coach, rather than data-driven decisions.
“A coach needs to be informed and also needs to use his own judgment in today’s game.”
Champion Data now uses optical camera tracking to give coaches more information on things like player positioning and matchups.
Kelsey explained that the information that AI will provide will soon be able to override the “visual test” that coaches use.
“Instead of just saying ‘Nick Daicos is being tagged by Toby Bedford,’ we’ll end up with a much more nuanced response,” Kelsey said.
Artificial intelligence will change the way AFL matches are coached, says leading expert (pictured Nick Daicos kicking for Collingwood this year)
Coaches like Brisbane’s Chris Fagan (pictured) will have access to AI that can figure out what’s happening in a game and how to counter it with specific tactics.
‘The AI response might find out that it’s marking you in detentions, but then when you’re out of detentions, you’re not close to each other.
“This way you can obtain much more detailed and precise information.”
The NBA, which has been an early adopter of technological advances, is using advanced AI that can provide data to coaches during a game in about 10 seconds.
This data analysis helps coaches make important decisions in real time about player rotations and strategies.
With the rapid advancement of technology, trainers like John Longmire and Chris Fagan will soon not need to wait until the next day to understand exactly how they were defeated.
AI will soon be able to provide information accurate enough to override the ‘visual test’ that coaches use to make tactical changes (pictured, Swans players being coached during a break in play in the 2024 season).
Artificial intelligence has created nightmare scenarios like those explored in the Terminator films (pictured) and in the real world, there are fears that this technology will cause massive job losses.
“Instead of just trying to do it with humans, we can start figuring out things like who’s coming in and out of the floor automatically, swapping moves, player positions, who’s playing who and making them a lot more accurate,” Kelsey said.
“And then once we have those sorted, we’ll start looking at some of the more difficult things, like trying to determine if we can detect kicks and pressure.”
Kelsey believes that one of the main challenges of AI is how humans adopt it.
However, he predicts that the technology will be successful.
“I think over time the debate will be whether a computer using artificial intelligence could get better results than a coach,” he predicted.