Opinion Gary Ablett Senior

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Bobby_ said:


Seems a good time to post this now that he has a book coming out.
Just need some feedback please on this short video. It runs for 10 minutes and it is highlights from Gary's 93 season. I am trying to keep it as short as possible but there are some marks and goals in there that I think could still be cut out in order to keep it flowing.

Have compiled most of his work in the 80's, along with seasons 90, 91, 92 but any feedback on which plays I should include or not include would be helpful.
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Brilliant thanks Bobby, listen to the fans! Forget about cuts, the man was innovative (just 1 of several superlatives that come to mind).

Stand by my statement that he is the best player I've ever seen, when people want to use the term 'star' they really should use Gary as a measure. Few have come close, hopefully we (Cats) are nurturing the next.
 
Bobby_ said:
we almost forget he was brought up through the Hawthorn system and was so very close to remaining with them going into his 3rd season at Glenferrie.
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Slap yourself roughly, "we" forget nothing or we are sharply reminded of it.

He was, and is, a Geelong legend and will always b so.
 
Bobby_ said:
we almost forget he was brought up through the Hawthorn system and was so very close to remaining with them going into his 3rd season at Glenferrie.
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Nearly went back to them from what I heard. Signed a contract for '88 season then changed his mind. Nearly went to Sydney with Hafey as well.
 

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Claude Balls said:
Can't remember where I read it, but I distinctly remember a quote of his where he states he didn't need as much time as the other players to get up to the required match fitness. He reckoned 8 weeks was all he needed and anything beyond that was superfluous.
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Ensactly.
I have no idea why people care about his training.
As long as he was 100% fit and match ready for games, which he clearly was, then who the * cares. That's the only reason you train anyway.
Same with his religion - who cares. I'm not religious and despise it like many but everyone has the right to practice it if they wish - its a personal thing.
 
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Goggin Our Best said:
Well mate - it comes down to who you believe

Malcolm Blight was on Mike Sheahans show - and Sheahan asked him about Abletts training etc - and Blight said - i think it was in his 1st year - or early years - that he had meetings with Ablett - and threatened to sack him - for continually missing training sessions during the year

I dont care how good he was ( and he was fantastic) hes totally ruined it and blemished it with that tragic incident- Polly Farmer summed it up best - Karl Langdon interviewed him on the TV - and asked Polly a direct question - Do you feel sorry for Ablett - and Polly said ( and i will never forget it ) - Sure i feel sorry for Gary - but i feel alot sorrier for the girl whose dead

When i think of Geelong champions- i dont even think of Ablett Snr - i think of blokes like Joel Selwood and Jimmy Bartel - who are both champions on and off the field
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So by that logic Wayne Carey is no champion as well? And Doug Hawkins?
 
Catsmaninamerica said:
Spot on VDubs. The opinionated know it all atheists around the place s**t me to tears. On one hand they carry on like little bitches if they and their opinion arent respected. But good luck trying to get them to respect another persons difference of opinion.
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I'm the opposite. I have my opinions but no one need respect them or pay attention to them.
 
Bobby_ said:
strangely enough, he didn't really do much of the 'mercurial' work that he was renown for in that particular season. Was just very proficient in every one on one contest.
I have found that in 92 and then his final years, he kicked many more freakish goals and took a lot more high marks.
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What stands out from that is how good he was at a) keeping his feet - he never fell over, and b) protecting where the ball would end up. Plus I love how he kept kicking the goal simple; if he gathered it 10 metres out he didn't worry about a perfect drop punt or bounce it end over end, he just put it quickly towards the middle of the goal line. Seemed to work well most of the time.
 
Catsmaninamerica said:
Rich coming from Polly, who after having all of the footy community rally to give him money via a fundraising night, continues to piss it away at the Mirabooka TAB. #glasshouses Again. Not absolving Gaz of Alisha Horans death. he has to live with it. But she was a grown woman who chose to do drugs. Yep he shouldnt have been there doing them alongside of her. But she chose to do them.
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This is an excerpt from The Age March 1, 2003 Ablett's own words re that fateful night...

...."Basically she caught me with it," says the former football champion. "She asked what it was. I didn't really want her knowing that it was what it was"...

So, from his own testament she didn't even know the stuff was there pal.
And then this...

....Ablett and Ms Horan, 20, an infatuated fan, are already "wasted" from a day and night-long binge of alcohol and ecstasy...

Maybe you would be best not discussing the matter at all given you obviously speak recklessly and emotionally without actually writing the facts as they happened or have been accounted by the only person there (Snr) and given you weren't there yourself and have actually zero idea of what really took place in that room that night or the events leading up to that incident.

Surely you don't need reminding she lost her life.
Maybe you could show a small semblance of decency by getting your facts straight?
Based on his own admissions, Snr would prefer the facts to be just as they are too and not altered.

And she was 20 also FFS. Grown woman?

Name all the AFL players you call "grown men" at the age of 20 by their off field behaviour?
Snr was by no means a grown man capable of great decision making at that same age as an example.
 
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Partridge said:
What stands out from that is how good he was at a) keeping his feet - he never fell over, and b) protecting where the ball would end up. Plus I love how he kept kicking the goal simple; if he gathered it 10 metres out he didn't worry about a perfect drop punt or bounce it end over end, he just put it quickly towards the middle of the goal line. Seemed to work well most of the time.
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A few of our current list could invest in the first one.

Very hard to do anything effective lying on the ground.

Go Catters
 
TheHonestyPolicy said:
This is an excerpt from The Age March 1, 2003 Ablett's own words re that fateful night...

...."Basically she caught me with it," says the former football champion. "She asked what it was. I didn't really want her knowing that it was what it was"...

So, from his own testament she didn't even know the stuff was there pal.
And then this...

....Ablett and Ms Horan, 20, an infatuated fan, are already "wasted" from a day and night-long binge of alcohol and ecstasy...

Maybe you would be best not discussing the matter at all given you obviously speak recklessly and emotionally without actually writing the facts as they happened or have been accounted by the only person there (Snr) and given you weren't there yourself and have actually zero idea of what really took place in that room that night or the events leading up to that incident.

Surely you don't need reminding she lost her life.
Maybe you could show a small semblance of decency by getting your facts straight?
Based on his own admissions, Snr would prefer the facts to be just as they are too and not altered.

And she was 20 also FFS. Grown woman?

Name all the AFL players you call "grown men" at the age of 20 by their off field behaviour?
Snr was by no means a grown man capable of great decision making at that same age as an example.
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I know this is a very sensitive subject that ultimately ended up turning into a tragic event, and believe me when I say that I'm not trying to get involved in a s**t fight.

Gary Ablett was guilty of carrying demons inside of him but he can't be held responsible for the people who had the very same demons inside of them. I'm sorry it's just not fair. Just because something tragic has taken place it doesn't mean that it needs to be somebody's fault.

Addiction is something that ruins alot of peoples lives and sometimes it's easy to blame others. Personally, I'm not sure that's the right way to go.
 
Stan The Caddy said:
I know this is a very sensitive subject that ultimately ended up turning into a tragic event, and believe me when I say that I'm not trying to get involved in a s**t fight.

Gary Ablett was guilty of carrying demons inside of him but he can't be held responsible for the people who had the very same demons inside of them. I'm sorry it's just not fair. Just because something tragic has taken place it doesn't mean that it needs to be somebody's fault.

Addiction is something that ruins alot of peoples lives and sometimes it's easy to blame others. Personally, I'm not sure that's the right way to go.
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Well said.
 

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Stan The Caddy said:
I know this is a very sensitive subject that ultimately ended up turning into a tragic event, and believe me when I say that I'm not trying to get involved in a s**t fight.

Gary Ablett was guilty of carrying demons inside of him but he can't be held responsible for the people who had the very same demons inside of them. I'm sorry it's just not fair. Just because something tragic has taken place it doesn't mean that it needs to be somebody's fault.

Addiction is something that ruins alot of peoples lives and sometimes it's easy to blame others. Personally, I'm not sure that's the right way to go.
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Interesting and you are way off course here mate.

At no stage did I make a judgement call re Ablett or the events of that night.
If you feel you need to judge, then go right ahead, but I don't agree with you passing any sort of judgement on what are unknown events to any of us.
In fact I made it quite clear, that no-one still living other than Snr was present that night, so how do we know what actually transpired?
The only call I made was saying a 20yo star struck fan, just like 20yo footballers, are in no way what I would define as "fully grown adults".

What I was asking the other poster to do was get his facts correct however, to have the common courtesy when talking about such a tragic event, to just get your facts straight in the first place. On top of this it's Ablett's own choice, I assume, to put such matters into the public domain by running an interview with the Age re the court case and the details of that tragic occurrence with that young girl which is what I was directly quoting from as source.

So, you need to get your facts straight here too ok. I wasn't there, I don't know what happened. Were you there?
So you are the one actually making the judgement call here and not me.

My overall opinion here is exonerating someone is just as ridiculous as saying they are guilty when you don't know what happened yourself.
And once again we can only go by what Snr has said as the evidence.
But the very least we can do is actually adhere to the words and testament he has given, and not just make s**t up as that other poster did.
He tried to say the young girl was fully compliant with all the drugs present, and Ablett was very clear to counter this however that she had no knowledge that the harder drugs were even present that night and that she had "caught him with them" to put it in his own words.

That sort of lazy disrespect to the facts in such a sensitive case is entirely unacceptable.

And I hope we are really clear on who is actually making the judgement call here too ok.

Are you personally afflicted by addiction for instance?
I really wouldn't know where to begin in trying to make that sort of an assessment in a case like this.
 
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TheHonestyPolicy said:
Interesting and you are way off course here mate.

At no stage did I make a judgement call re Ablett or the events of that night.
If you feel you need to judge, then go right ahead, but I don't agree with you passing any sort of judgement on what are unknown events to any of us.
In fact I made it quite clear, that no-one still living other than Snr was present that night, so how do we know what actually transpired?
The only call I made was saying a 20yo star struck fan, just like 20yo footballers, are in no way what I would define as "fully grown adults".

What I was asking the other poster to do was get his facts correct however, to have the common courtesy when talking about such a tragic event, to just get your facts straight in the first place. On top of this it's Ablett's own choice, I assume, to put such matters into the public domain by running an interview with the Age re the court case and the details of that tragic occurrence with that young girl which is what I was directly quoting from as source.

So, you need to get your facts straight here too ok. I wasn't there, I don't know what happened. Were you there?
So you are the one actually making the judgement call here and not me.

My overall opinion here is exonerating someone is just as ridiculous as saying they are guilty when you don't know what happened yourself.
And once again we can only go by what Snr has said as the evidence.
But the very least we can do is actually adhere to the words and testament he has given, and not just make s**t up as that other poster did.

That sort of lazy disrespect to the facts in such a sensitive case is entirely unacceptable.

And I hope we are really clear on who is actually making the judgement call here too ok.

Are you personally afflicted by addiction for instance?
I really wouldn't know where to begin in trying to make that sort of an assessment in a case like this.
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Sorry but this post makes no sense at all. Honestly, I wouldn't even know where to start so I won't bother except to say that the only person who seems to be judgemental in this debate is you, even if you're not willing to actually come out and admit it yourself.
 
Stan The Caddy said:
Sorry but this post makes no sense at all. Honestly, I wouldn't even know where to start so I won't bother except to say that the only person who seems to be judgemental in this debate is you, even if you're not willing to actually come out and admit it yourself.
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Breaking it down, I have made zero judgments on anything to do with the case, on Ablett or the events of that tragic incident.

I am pointing out that by clearing Ablett of any wrong doing at all, and by diagnosing them both to be afflicted by addictions, you and others are actually the ones making a judgement call here.

That seems straight forward enough for me.

And if asking people/posters to adhere to actual facts or proper evidence regarding the case and not be lazy, disrespectful or flippant to such things is being in some way judgemental in a case where a loved one has died, then yes absolutely, I am "guilty" as charged.
 
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TheHonestyPolicy said:
Is this because you have some sort of medical background in depression and addiction that you can apply to this specific case based on Ablett's evidence?
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What?

It was simply an acknowledgement that the poster had expressed his thoughts in a concise manner, whether or not I agreed with his sentiment.
 
TheHonestyPolicy said:
Interesting and you are way off course here mate.

At no stage did I make a judgement call re Ablett or the events of that night.
If you feel you need to judge, then go right ahead, but I don't agree with you passing any sort of judgement on what are unknown events to any of us.
In fact I made it quite clear, that no-one still living other than Snr was present that night, so how do we know what actually transpired?
The only call I made was saying a 20yo star struck fan, just like 20yo footballers, are in no way what I would define as "fully grown adults".

What I was asking the other poster to do was get his facts correct however, to have the common courtesy when talking about such a tragic event, to just get your facts straight in the first place. On top of this it's Ablett's own choice, I assume, to put such matters into the public domain by running an interview with the Age re the court case and the details of that tragic occurrence with that young girl which is what I was directly quoting from as source.

So, you need to get your facts straight here too ok. I wasn't there, I don't know what happened. Were you there?
So you are the one actually making the judgement call here and not me.

My overall opinion here is exonerating someone is just as ridiculous as saying they are guilty when you don't know what happened yourself.
And once again we can only go by what Snr has said as the evidence.
But the very least we can do is actually adhere to the words and testament he has given, and not just make s**t up as that other poster did.
He tried to say the young girl was fully compliant with all the drugs present, and Ablett was very clear to counter this however that she had no knowledge that the harder drugs were even present that night and that she had "caught him with them" to put it in his own words.

That sort of lazy disrespect to the facts in such a sensitive case is entirely unacceptable.

And I hope we are really clear on who is actually making the judgement call here too ok.

Are you personally afflicted by addiction for instance?
I really wouldn't know where to begin in trying to make that sort of an assessment in a case like this.
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Not sure of your direction here re: bolded, or whether it's necessary.

Other than that, I can see where you're coming from.
 
Whit3y said:
geez this thread got derailed

there's always someone isn't there
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Seems to happen with every discussion.

I'll always remember the sense of pure joy, wonder, and amazement Ablett Snr gave me whenever he strode the footy field, whilst recognising that he was a flawed genius.

Let he who is perfect cast the first stone.
 
Catsmaninamerica said:
The notion he didnt train is just a lie. I can tell you for absolute fact that while he may not have trained with his team mates, he trained. eg. The preseason of 85 i think it was, he didnt do a session with the boys until the camp that they had in Anglesea which from memory was in late Feb. There was a little bit of chatter that Gazza hadnt trained, and guys were bitching. That was until he turned up at camp and won EVERY test. He won sprints. He won strength. The only thing he didnt win was a distance run but even then he was in the top 20. Turns out Gaz had been in Balnarring or somewhere up in NSW hunting pigs. With no gun. Just a big **** off knife and a dog. He was fit as ****. So yeah. The urban legend is he didnt train. He did, it was just different.
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I'm from up Balranald way (Swan Hill) and he was seeing a local girl. He loved his pig hunting and was there all the time, sometimes with Nicky Winmar!
 
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