The Scout is a signal-tracking database and fortnightly newsletter designed to help to make sense of what's changing, so that we can act. We scan the edges of sport to find the shifts, contradictions and emerging patterns that could reshape the game, the business, the athletes, and the culture of sport.
Why track signals?
We don't track signals to predict what will happen (that's a futile task). We track them to pay attention to what is already happening at the fringes. This approach allows us to:
- Challenge assumptions about the status quo (including how we think about things/the world/the game etc).
- Expand our sense of possibility - finding evidence of the ways in which sport, and the world around sport, is already changing.
- Widen our choices and options and help make more informed (and resilient) decisions today.
How it works
The Scout Library: A living intelligence highlights reel. Browse a searchable archive of signals synthesised from a wide-angle scan of the cultural, technological, economic, environmental and political shifts reshaping our world (and sport).
The Signal Structure: Each entry is designed for quick review:
- The Signal: A quick summary of what's happening.
- The Shift: what's the shift that might be happening (from what to what)
- So what for AFLPA? Strategic considerations = possible risks and opportunities for the PA.
The Fortnightly Digest: Every second Monday, we deliver handpicked, "sticky" signals directly to your inbox. It is a clean, scannable format designed to be digested in 5 minutes within the flow of your everyday work.
Share your signals
The best scouting happens when the whole team is looking. If you spot a shift at the edges of the game, send it through.
Remember, signals are concrete evidence of what's changing. They are the specific, real-world examples that make you sit up and think, "I've not seen that before," or "That's really interesting." A signal isn't a vague feeling or a random person's blog about the future; it is something concrete that's already happened—a new partnership, a strange data point, a new policy, new tech, emerging research, a shift in player behaviour etc—things that hint at a larger pattern in motion. *E.g. its a clue/evidence that something is new/different/changing.
If we track your signal, we’ll credit you as the contributor on the library.
About the author (@reanna)
Reanna Browne is an academically trained, practicing futurist who goes beyond trendy buzzwords to tackle a core dilemma for modern organisations: running the business while simultaneously changing it. Her approach reframes how change unfolds, moving teams from foresight to insight to concrete actions "come Monday".
With over a decade of experience as both an in-house and consulting futurist, Reanna leads the global foresight consultancy Work Futures. She holds an MA in Strategic Foresight from Swinburne University and postgraduate credentials from the Finland Futures Academy.
A former cricketer with roots in coaching and game development, Reanna brings a grounded understanding of how sport works.
Reanna is also co-host of The Next, a monthly podcast from The Female Athlete Project. Each episode, she joins Chloe Dalton and Erin Morton to explore what's changing in women's sport before it hits the headlines—shining a light on the signals already reshaping the game in the present, not to predict what's coming, but to notice what's already in motion.
Learn more at reannabrowne.com.au
