The smart ball in production at the Sherrin factory in Melbourne. Picture: Supplied

The AFL has today confirmed the next stage of testing for smart-ball technology will take place during the Sandringham v Collingwood (VFL) & Southern Saints vs Collingwood (VFLW) on Friday, March 22 at RSEA Park.

Work on the smart-ball has been undertaken for the last 18 months and during this period the AFL has worked closely with smart-ball developers Sportable, its scoreboard and graphics partner, Intaneous, and Sherrin on the development of the electronic sensors in the bladder.

The sensors assist with tracking and motion which determine the ball’s exact position on the field, distance travelled, its speed and spin rates.

During this stage of the testing, the ball will be tracked for the duration of the game allowing for a wide range of match variables to be collated including, location of the ball at any moment in the game, kick and handball lengths, ball speed, spin rate and height.

To date there has been extensive work and iterations of the ball to ensure it looks, feels, weighs and performs like a typical AFL match ball, lab testing to determine the sensor accuracy and basic performance qualities and work with a kicking robot to examine kick distance and trajectory.

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AFL Clubs have been using the smart-ball in pre-season training in a blind field trial this year and more than 125 players have provided initial feedback on the ball.

AFL Executive General Manager of Football Laura Kane said it was exciting to move to the next stage of testing.

“Our work on the smart-ball and its tracking technology is progressing well and we are excited about the possibilities of what this can do, both from a performance data perspective but also for providing insights for fans in-match and at home, as well as the options it could potentially unlock for our broadcasters,” said Ms Kane.   

“Feeback from clubs in the pre-season training period has been positive with the view being there is no difference to the look, feel and performance of the ball.

“Following this feedback, we are now ready to move to the next stage in the trials where we will see how the ball performs in a match environment.

"I would like to thank our VFL and VFLW Clubs for their participation in this next testing phase, it is an exciting next milestone in our smart-ball technology project.”

All data collected in these two games is considered experimental and will only be used for further refinement of the smart-ball technology – it will not be used in the game.