Next week, the NRL is expected to gazump the AFL. Next week in the first NRL State of Origin game for 2017 it is expected the broadcasters will show the players' GPS data live during the game.

The AFL is not pleased. It feels like the pioneer who will miss the chance to show off its shiny new toy first.

The AFL has been pushing to be able to broadcast players' GPS data live in games for more than 12 months.

It is one of the items in the proposed new collective bargaining agreement and there has been a broad agreement that it will happen.

The problem is the CBA has not yet been signed off. While the big ticket items are agreed, the minutiae of the CBA is yet to be finalised and small sticking points remain.

So when AFL officials learnt of the NRL's plan to use the data - which will tell viewers how far players have run, how fast, how often they have run at top speed and how often at average speed or walking - in their marquee games they hastily tried to jump in ahead of it.

The AFL, the broadcasters and statistics company Champion Data - which is sort of the AFL's anyway as the league owns 49 per cent of the company - held urgent meetings this week to expedite the introduction of GPS tracking in Thursday night's Geelong-Port Adelaide match and then for it to be used if not in the entirety of this round then at least in most games.

A meeting was held with the AFLPA, which is understood to have reminded the AFL that it required the players' approval to broadcast the data.

Champion Data and the AFL argued that the players had agreed in CBA negotiations for it to be used as part of the new CBA so why not just let them start doing so now.

It is not known what the players' union response was but presumably it was along the lines of 'OK, we have also agreed what the pay rise will be, why don't you just start paying the players more now?'

The players didn't chase this change to introduce GPS tracking in games. Many players and some clubs were uncomfortable with the use of GPS data for fear of the potential for it to be used to embarrass them.

"Look he's only covered 4km."

"Look, he never gets out of second gear, he never sprints."

Partly for that reason it appears likely that in the initial stages while all players' GPS data will be collected only the top five-ranked players' statistics are likely to be used. That is, the five players on each team with the highest GPS figures.

Initially then the figures will only be of curiosity value for they will reveal how hard the top five players are working and how much ground they cover but not reveal those not running as far or fast. That will only be surmised by the fact they are not among the top five.

Of course, if a player's direct opponent is in the top five and he is not, then an assumption could be made about how far he has run.

Most defenders, for instance, run less than others on the ground because they will position themselves in an area to block space. Players then have been troubled that by executing a team plan they can be criticised based on raw data for not working hard enough.

Some high-performance coaches are uneasy about the data being used not because of privacy concerns but because of assumptions that are made on the back of it. There is no proven link between the club or player that runs harder or faster and winning.

Consequently some clubs, most notably the Western Bulldogs, have expressed their concern about data on their players being made available. It is understood the Bulldogs would actually like their players to run less. They want their players protecting parts of the ground but not to have to run crazily to do so.

In the event, the first statistic the GPS tracking is likely to reveal is that the NRL got there first.