IS GPS TRACKING ALREADY OBSOLETE?

If you look closely at the back of every AFL player's guernsey, you will see a small lump at the top where a GPS tracking device has been fitted. Analysts sit alongside coaches providing them with key data and trends, so when Chris Judd has covered 14km at speeds ranging from 5-27kph, Brett Ratten knows it's time for him to sit on the bench and drink some Powerade.

GPS tracking has a variety of uses. Coaches can track players to see if they are defending or attacking in the correct formation and even determine whether they are facing the right direction at the right time. Training loads can be monitored and training can be altered to replicate what a player would normally do in a match.

Unfortunately GPS tracking can also be used in ways that may mean players' private lives are a thing of the past (if they weren't already), as Robin Van Persie of Arsenal seems to think.

But just as GPS tracking becomes the must have technology in all elite sports, it may be on the way out. IBM has trialled SecondSight at Wimbledon this week, changing the way players are tracked and data is collected.

SecondSight works with two cameras recording the movement of the players and ball, displaying a graphic on screen that almost looks like a slightly improved version of the original version of Atari's Pong. Distance, speed and hitting patterns are recorded and IBM hope that this will be the future of information for tennis players and coaches. 

With most elite sports signing billion dollar TV rights, an extra couple of cameras at the ground to track all movement throughout the game is surely the next step. Coaches will love the instant feedback and TV audiences will have their viewing experiences taken to the next level.

But as good as GPS tracking can be, it is only as good as the coach using it. Data can be great, but only if you understand it and use it to your advantage. As they say, 48.76% of statistics are made up; as for the other 51%, people don't understand what they mean anyway.