GPS data reveals AFL players, on average, run 14km a match on the League's biggest ground, Patersons Stadium.
In English soccer's premier league, players run around 11.7km per match, while in Australia's elite rugby league matches, players will normally run between 8-10km per game depending on their position.
Adding to the physical demands on Australian football players, unlike other sports, the dimensions of AFL arenas are variable
In an match, players run on average 13km at the MCG, one kilometre less than at Patersons Stadium.
The intensity is also 12 points higher on the exertion index in Perth at 145 compared to 133 at the MCG.
Over the years individual AFL stars have been tracked covering even more ground.
St Kilda legend Robert Harvey - considered a running machine when he played through the 1990s and 2000s - reportedly covered 19.6 km in 2000.
Hawthorn Brownlow medallist Shane Crawford was also a marathon man on the field, once tracked running 17 km in 2005.
Interestingly, new studies have revealed that defenders run the most, travelling an average distance of 13.5km per match.
Forwards run 12.89km a match and nomadic players (midfielders, utilities, and ruckmen) run 13.46km a match.
However, midfielders now spend significantly less time on the ground (109 minutes), compared to almost 117 minutes for defenders.
All 17 clubs participated in last season's GPS tracking, with 1653 individual data files collected.
Players spend on average 5mins 25 secs per match running at above 18km/h.
