Opinion Gary Ablett Senior

[dazbroncos]

Fred , Ill add one to the list , the little known Serdat Sir ( Bulldogs)
Lined up on Ablett at the Southern end of Whitten Oval much to the consternation of the Doggies faithful in standing room
1st contest Ablett splits him in half with a seemingly innocuous hip and shoulder...... he goes down like a ton of bricks , gets up , staggers around , falls again , gets up.........trainers walk him off the ground with his eyes going round and round in circles.
Deathly silence until some wag yells out.....NEXT !!

Knew a Physio from the Club who reckoned massaging the great man was like massaging a brick no matter where you touched.
One of his party tricks was to lie flat on his back on the table , have this guy ( 85kgs) put all his weight through his hands on either leg and Ablett would lift him off the ground for 4-5 straight leg raises .

No wonder he won around 75% of his 1:1 contests

Correct about the legs but his core was just stupid too. The ability to turn and twist and outbody his opponent is all derived from the core and he was a brick. A total brick.

Once in a 100 year player and whilst his kid is 100% brilliant, his old man has him covered.

Aint seen GAJ put them through from the wing....

Go Catters

 

[footscore]

I don't think he made any of the old, genuine, pre-1991 All-Australian Teams.

Here's how it worked (ps, check how many times Polly made the team, and check the 1958 Centenary Skipper)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-Australian_team

*edit
sorry the video link I posted isn't working for some reason


These articles highlight his 7 All-Australians which were put together by journalists at the time.

http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/1690/5jko.jpg

And this is a video I found the other day, have no idea what year it is from...looks like it's 84 going by Gazza's flowing blonde locks

 

[yogogorilla41]

Loving the discussion.

Also didnt see polly play or others. But i saw a lot of Carey and others from that Era. Then i sit and listen to my dad talk about Polly, Royce Hart, Ian Stewart, Bob Skilton, Coleman, and other legends... he speaks of them as greats, but their is only one player he said he was constantly amazed by and would watch at every opportunity.
Gary Ablett.
I still watch the 1989 Grand Final, with my best mate who is a Hawthorn Supporter... And watch in amazement how he nearly single handedly dragged us across the line. *mumbling we should have f**king wont that*

 

[rocker_oz33]

Gary snr must of been pound for pound one of the strongest man going around same height as bartel build like Jhunt runs lile motlop (well maybe not quiet that fast).

 

[rocker_oz33]

I remember back in the day i went to skilled to one of the open training sessions to get some autograph etc.I seen was gazza was walking to hes car and put hes hands behide him to grab my marker and book i had to run to catch him and he was walking

I remember watching him do hes test after comming back from injuiry the test was marking the footy running backwards in rubbish bin playing on stevie O'really remember him.

 

[Vdubs]

Gary snr must of been pound for pound one of the strongest man going around same height as bartel build like Jhunt runs lile motlop (well maybe not quiet that fast).

The old physics law of momentum hugely applied to Senior, you know, M = m x v; Momentum = mass x velocity. He was fast, and strong and once he got going, absolutely lethal

 

[SJ]

just on that, I have two paper articles from an old footy record, one from 92 and another from 95, the 95 record says he has 7 All-Australians next to his name but on the Wikipedia link, it says he has 4.

I am unsure how they did those teams of the year back in the 80's (was too young to remember) but I did come across a video just recently which has a young Ablett from season 84 or 85 accepting a medal from Sandy Roberts and then being placed on the half forward flank for the best team of the year.

I was under the belief that the All-Australian did not come into fruition until season 1991?

The current All-Australian team was the previous VFL Team of the Year - the best players from a season of footy in the VFL/AFL. Of those, Ablett had seven.

The previous All-Australian teams were selected only from players which participated in state carnivals.

 

[Partridge]

The current All-Australian team was the previous VFL Team of the Year - the best players from a season of footy in the VFL/AFL. Of those, Ablett had seven.

The previous All-Australian teams were selected only from players which participated in state carnivals.

The only thing I recall that kept Ablett out of state representation was injury. He was a fixture for Victoria from 1984 onwards. Needless to say the form was always good enough.

 

[vinum coupe]

It's amazing how many morons think Ablett was only consistent after Blight arrived. 82 goals in 1985, 65 from 15 in 1986 (and we were shit), 82 in 1988 as well.....just a superstar from his first game. Made Judd and Selwood's early years look pedestrian.

I don't think they're morons. You obviously went and watched Gazza in 84, 85 etc as I did.
Remember that all games (bar Sydney games) were played at the same time on a Saturday arvo.

There was pretty much zero footage of most of the games.
Of course we all knew how good he was. But you'd talk to another supporter about him and they really had no idea how good he was. There was just no exposure.

I've told the story before that when he was picked for that state game in Perth I was just praying that (I think it was Jeans coaching) they would start him on the field instead of Daicos. Because there was a massive buzz about Daicos and pretty much nothing about Gazza.

And we all know how that ended

 

[The rabbi]

Good ordinary footballer.

 

[manboob]

The old physics law of momentum hugely applied to Senior, you know, M = m x v; Momentum = mass x velocity. He was fast, and strong and once he got going, absolutely lethal

Steam-trained so many blokes.

 

[Cosmic Energy]

It's nice that there's a bit of Gazza reminiscing going on in the footy world at the moment. I suppose Cats fans do it often but it's nice he's not as easily forgotten as others can be as new eras come along. Thankfully we have some reasonable footage.

I'm not sure anyone has put together as good a finals series as Gazza's '89, or at least the last 3 games. '89 was probably his physical peak in terms of weight (around 90kg then), fitness, pace, power & leaping and putting it all together at the right time, vs the permanent FF frame of around 100kg.

The 89 prelim was the best of those finals, probably one of the best individual finals games ever played. I put all his play involvements in that game up on YouTube a while back but took it down, might pop it back up again when i get a chance. He really put on a footballing exhibition that day. One bit that never makes the highlights tapes was where he launches a torp from about 70-75m I'd say after Commetti joked he was too far out to score, and as the torp comes back down to earth Billy appears to stop it with the back of his head on the goal line, costing him a goal

 

[dazbroncos]

It's nice that there's a bit of Gazza reminiscing going on in the footy world at the moment. I suppose Cats fans do it often but it's nice he's not as easily forgotten as others can be as new eras come along. Thankfully we have some reasonable footage.

I'm not sure anyone has put together as good a finals series as Gazza's '89, or at least the last 3 games. '89 was probably his physical peak in terms of weight (around 90kg then), fitness, pace, power & leaping and putting it all together at the right time, vs the permanent FF frame of around 100kg.

The 89 prelim was the best of those finals, probably one of the best individual finals games ever played. I put all his play involvements in that game up on YouTube a while back but took it down, might pop it back up again when i get a chance. He really put on a footballing exhibition that day. One bit that never makes the highlights tapes was where he launches a torp from about 70-75m I'd say after Commetti joked he was too far out to score, and as the torp comes back down to earth Billy appears to stop it with the back of his head on the goal line, costing him a goal

I quoted about this exact point earlier saying that id never seen GAJ put one thru from the wing...LOL

great minds...

GO Catters

 

[footscore]

I quoted about this exact point earlier saying that id never seen GAJ put one thru from the wing...LOL

great minds...

how's this roost



Taken the mark about 65 metres out but kicked it from roughly 70 and it's cleared the line by about 2 metres as well

 

[manboob]

Pft after seeing that torp again there's no contest between "Jnr" and "Snr"

 

[dazbroncos]

how's this roost



Taken the mark about 65 metres out but kicked it from roughly 70 and it's cleared the line by about 2 metres as well

If that was less than 70m then i'm a monkeys arse. Senior still has junior covered.

Junior is no hack by any means... but Snr would just pull that stuff and jog back to CHB... (pay attention HP you dill)

Go Catters

 

[Cosmic Energy]

how's this roost



Taken the mark about 65 metres out but kicked it from roughly 70 and it's cleared the line by about 2 metres as well

That torp against Fitzroy from the middle of Princes Park was probably his longest ever goal. I think Peter McKenna called it an 85 metre torpedo punt!

 

[juzcat]

Always thought it is pretty easy to define senior.

Most individually talented football player of all time. Had every attribute of the game and simply is unsurpassed as a physical talent of the game.

But, you wouldn't pick him first in your team....that honour would be Whitten, Matthews, Carey or dare I say now Jnr.

That's the best way I've come across that defines the enigma that is/was Gary Senior.

No way. I would pick senior every time. He could play wing, rover, ruck rover, HF, FF, CHF
He even kicked a goal from the ruck in the 89 which I was lucky enough to see after jumping the MCG fences
Thing about ablett was you didnt need a tall and a small. If he didnt take the mark, he would crumb it and snap a goal.
He was the ultimate game breaker. What we see with junior is he wins games for GC now and then. Senior did it as regular as corn flakes
Watched his entire career and Ayres robbed us of many years
Any inconsistencies were around his personal demons. In GFC football machine of today they would have been much better managed
Today people talk about being stong through the corr and hips. If you look at his physique you could not engineer a better body core expolosive core strength and stability. He would crash a pack, stop and then accelerate with the ball, leaving players for dead. Mind you the grounds were shit quagmires back then and he still did it
The man has no peer

 

[Spazz Cat]

Some people could argue he wasn't the best to play the game. What you can't argue is that was and will be the most exciting player to ever play. The amount of interest he created and the amount of neutral supporters he brought through the gate will never be repeated. I used to go to KP when I was a kid and there would be dozens of buses lined up behind the hickey stand full of of pensioners from all over Victoria who used to make the journey solely to watch Gazza play.
Also people used to give him shit but as a kid if you ever saw him around town he was such a great guy who would always sighn an autograph and would be more than happy to speak to you. A lot like jnr is if anyone has met him.

 

[Cosmic Energy]

Here's all the Gazza action from the 89 prelim. The torp from this game I was talking about is at about 2:00 in the 2nd half.

1st half



2nd half

 

[Power Raid]

Watching his highlights gave me goose bumps.

I actually strongly believe today's football he would kick more goals, than he did in his era. Athletic, d
Fast, strong, and an absolutely ripping kick for goal. Makes buddy, Rooey and Twavis look like chumps! Brilliance oozed out of him. This guy kicked them from 70 Metres out, those guys listed struggle from inside 40!

they didn't call him god for nothing

he is still the best player I have seen

 

[Power Raid]

Here's all the Gazza action from the 89 prelim. The torp from this game I was talking about is at about 2:00 in the 2nd half.

1st half



2nd half

brilliant

thank god for you tube so we can enjoy gazza when ever we want

 

[the croucher]

The current All-Australian team was the previous VFL Team of the Year - the best players from a season of footy in the VFL/AFL. Of those, Ablett had seven.

The previous All-Australian teams were selected only from players which participated in state carnivals.

Checking back through the lists I think there are eight...

All Australian = 4 (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995)

VFL Team of Year = 3 (1984, 1986, 1989)
AFL Team of Year = 1 (1990)

so in summary, describing career of Gary Ablett snr, he was chosen All Australian four times,
and chosen four times in other teams of the year.

 

[SJ]

Checking back through the lists I think there are eight...

All Australian = 4 (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995)

VFL Team of Year = 3 (1984, 1986, 1989)
AFL Team of Year = 1 (1990)

so in summary, describing career of Gary Ablett snr, he was chosen All Australian four times,
and chosen four times in other teams of the year.

But it would be fair enough to say "eight times All Australian", in the same way you would say Geelong has won nine (VFL/AFL) premierships.

 

[the croucher]

But it would be fair enough to say "eight times All Australian", in the same way you would say Geelong has won nine (VFL/AFL) premierships.

No, I don't agree.
Under the AA selection criteria for teams chosen between 1953 & 1988 Ablett snr was chosen 0 times.
Under the AA selection criteria for teams chosen between 1991 & 2013 Ablett snr was chosen 4 times.

In the years when an All Australian team has been chosen, there is only one AA team so naturally a player can only be selected once for that year.

Don't be duped (however innocently) into diluting career records of the past simply to glorify achievements of those of a more modern era.

Heavens, if we fudge the terminology too much we'll end up with ridiculous situations like the following hypothetical: "Gerard Healy was All-Australian three times in 1986." Huh ?
(1 genuine AA, 1 VFL team of year, 1 International Rules...or if he played 2 or 3 IR does that make him 4 or 5 AA for the year ?)