Bomber says that Nathan Ablett is better than Gary Ablett jr

[GTOA]

I think Bomber is actually mentally ill, he seems like he's had a breakdown.

Apparently, that is the excuse he used to get out of his contract at Geelong, and the reason that the club gave at the press conference (instead of tipping the bucket on him).

 

[Pollywaffle]

Insert a picture of [ sour grapes ] here.

 

[AM]

Insert a picture of [ sour grapes ] here.

The thread title isn't even accurate.

 

[ThatsjustDappa]

Nathan & Gazza had their dad's brilliance in them, but also his flaky side too. Early in Gazza jnr's career, he'd not turn up for training, and never put any serious effort at training when he was there, and decide he wasn't playing due to some minor injury when he could have (Gary Snr did all these things). It was not until the leading teams sessions post 2006 season he finally got the hint and started to reallise what he had to do to become the player he is today. Nathan's flaky side manifested differently, but his Ablett genes did their work. I think Nathan could've been a great of the game, just as his brother, but while he had incredible natural ability, he never had the mental resilience to achieve it. He isn't the first footballer to be like that, and won't be the last.

Dunno, i heard a bit different about Gazzas early career at Geelong. Heard a speech from Brendan McCartney about the 2007 team and he did say Gazza early in his career did 'what was required' in training etc and around 2006 took it to a new level in training and commitment. He said similar about a number of players...

 

[AM]

This has gained my interest. Are they worth the price of admission?

It's a relatively small part of the book. So unless you are really into coaching I wouldn't buy it for that reason alone.

When I have time I'll PM you an image of the one of the charts and one of the notes.

Generally a good read though.

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

Dunno, i heard a bit different about Gazzas early career at Geelong. Heard a speech from Brendan McCartney about the 2007 team and he did say Gazza early in his career did 'what was required' in training etc and around 2006 took it to a new level in training and commitment. He said similar about a number of players...

That's not what the new book out says about him in that period.

 

[Otto2Gaz]

Watch the season highlights dvd of '07. Nathan figures in lots of the footage. He was a big man who could mark well and kick with either foot. He had x-factor too. Invaluable traits. Could have been anything. Such a shame!

 

[Mahlepi]

I heard that Gold Coast ONLY signed Nathan Ablett, as an extra reason to get Gary Ablett to sign with the Gold Coast.

Once the Suns had Gazza, they didn't need Nathan any more.

It's was part of the deal
Just like Ablett taking 20 people to the USA before his last season at the cats
Guess who paid for that trip

 

[speedybundy]

What a bitter, bitter man!

Mark Thompson in his book talks about Nathan Ablett and says that he was better than Gary Ablett.

Firstly, Nathan Ablett was a sook. He was as soft as butter. There are hundreds of players in local footy, all across this fair land, who would give their left and right testicle to play AFL football, and yet this guy didn't want to because he didn't like the media spotlight. All silk and no substance.

You know what, Nath? Neither did your dad. But he still played the game. He shunned the media and the limelight, despite being talked about all the time, yet he still stayed in the game. He went walkies in 1991, but even then, came back, showing what playing football at the highest level meant to him.

Meanwhile, "Natalie" can't even play out more than a couple of seasons, before quitting because he couldn't cope with the attention.

Also, Bomber Thompson, saying that Nathan was better than Gary Ablett. Here we go again with Bomber potting Gazza jr.

He never accepted that Gazza was a better player than Bomber was on his best day. He bullied Ablett out of Geelong, and made his decision to go to Gold Coast easier, and then "Liar" Thompson, who criticised Ablett's loyalty, showed none himself by jumping to Essendon, after using the phone Geelong gave him for club business, and when Frank Costa asked him if he was speaking to Essendon, Bomber lied to his face. He lied to the man who was the sole reason that Bomber kept his job at Geelong and became a premiership coach, after taking 8 years to do it (Chris Scott took one year to do the same thing). Bomber sabotaged our 2010 season by focusing on bullying Ablett all season (Nathan would have left in five minutes under similar bullying, and would have run off, crying to mummy), and then apparently talking to Essendon on the phone DURING our Preliminary Final against Collingwood, costing us the match and possibly another flag.Further, Bomber then went to Essendon, and was involved with a club who doped their players. Karma couldn't hit his lying ass hard enough.

Gary Ablett jr had more talent than Nathan and Bomber put together.

Ridiculous post. Who are you to call him a sook because he wanted to do something else with his life. If he played on and did it halfheartedly you could call him a sook, but not for choosing a different path.

It's a shame you've started what could have been a valid "How good could Nathan Ablett have been" thread with this personal attack garbage. Leave your bitterness about Bomber elsewhere.

 

[Go Hoops]

Not sure he still knows what he wants in life. I believe he's running around as a run-of -the mill player in country Vic. Still a lost soul. Sad.

As for the lying OP header. It's a fecking disgrace and shows a hate for one of our most successful - if a bit out there- coaches.

 

[Mr Meow]

How can people hate Gary or Bomber after the success they gave us? Sure, the way both of them left wasn't ideal. But they gave everything to the club for a large period - blood, sweat and tears - to get us on top of the mountain after a sizable drought. In many ways I have more respect for the flawed individuals who had conflicts of interest or whatever than the squeaky clean types, who you do need but it's impossible for a football club to be full of them. Between Moons, Stevie J, Gazza, Bomber et al we had a bunch of players dealing with on or off-field dilemmas (usually self-inflicted) but performing at a high standard. If that level suffered at times, so be it.

 

[GTOA]

Ridiculous post. Who are you to call him a sook because he wanted to do something else with his life. If he played on and did it halfheartedly you could call him a sook, but not for choosing a different path.

It's a shame you've started what could have been a valid "How good could Nathan Ablett have been" thread with this personal attack garbage. Leave your bitterness about Bomber elsewhere.

Yet you people bag Gary Ablett jr for "wanting to do something else in his life" over than play for Geelong.

Also, I had no problem with Bomber doing "something else in his life" if he hadn't lied about it, and had stayed away from any other clubs until after 2011 (when his contract was up), and hadn't bad-mouthed Gary Ablett at every turn publicly, and say how important loyalty and transperacy was, and then quit mid-contract to join another club and lie to Frank Costa about it.

Fact. Gary Ablett was out of contract when he left Geelong, so we couldn't hold him to his contract. He has a right to decide if he wants a new contract with Geelong or try elsewhere. I didn't like that he didn't stay, but he fulfilled his obligations.

Fact. Bomber left mid-contract, when he still was committed to the club. I hope he didn't get paid for 2011. If Bomber had fulfilled his contract, and then went and did something else, even join Essendon, I would have wished him well. But he left before his contract was up, and then wouldn't be honest with the club or our president, who without his support, Bomber would have gone in 2006. The club didn't sack Bomber in 2006 (and he deserved to be sacked at the time), but the club honored his contract, and then gave him another one (which he most certainly did deserve), and yet he couldn't return the favor.

I think, in hindsight, it would have been better if Bomber had left at the end of his last contract, in 2009. He would have gone out after just having coached us to our second flag. I would have been sad that he wasn't continuing, but I wouldn't be bitter, as it is his life. But he left half-way through his last contract, for more money and less responsibility at Essendon. Even here, if Bomber had just told the club that he got an offer from Essendon, and wanted to take it, I think the club would have given him his wish. His lying to them, and then isolating a player who has been made a big offer, while taking one yourself, means that you lose the high moral ground.

 

[GTOA]

Not sure he still knows what he wants in life. I believe he's running around as a run-of -the mill player in country Vic. Still a lost soul. Sad.

As for the lying OP header. It's a fecking disgrace and shows a hate for one of our most successful - if a bit out there- coaches.

I don't hate Bomber. But he is a flawed individual.

Do I thank him for the two flags? Yes I do, but I also thank all of our players in those premierships, who did their part in the wins, as well as the administration, for running a stable club, Stephen Wells for picking the right players, our conditioning guys and medical team, for keeping the players on the field.

Bomber made some great masterstrokes in the 2009 GF, but I don't think he coached Scarlett to toe-poke the ball to Ablett, which resulted with Paul Chapman snapping it off one step from a Varcoe handpass, to win us the flag. I think the players saw an opportunity, and took it, so deserve as much of the credit. Bomber, while a vital piece of the puzzle, was still only one piece of it.

I wanted him sacked in 2006, but am glad that the club resisted media pressure and backed him in, and got rewarded for doing it. Can't fault Bomber for his coaching in the 2007 and 2009 flags, but was out-coached in 2008 GF.

However, the man has flaws, and that is fine, when it doesn't affect the club. But bad-mouthing a player in 2010, for what he might do in 2011, when he should be focusing on the whole group, and coaching them to back-to-back flags. Bomber was distracted in 2010, and focused on little things, rather than the most important thing- winning another flag.

Also, Bomber had a habit of, in the last two or three years, dropping any new youngsters who played in the side, to bring back premiership players, no matter who they were (even players like Mark Blake and Shannon Byrnes, when their form didn't warrant it), and yet would drop a youngster who might have played well the next week. I doubt Duncan, Motlop, Caddy, Kolojadsnij, Jed Bews, and some of our other up-and-comers would have got games if Bomber was still there, because he would have still play Chapman, Steve Johnson, and others who are past retirement.

In all, I thank Bomber for the flags, and wished it had ended better at Geelong. But he does have flaws, and winning two flags doesn't suddenly make you above criticism.

 

[AM]

We know your views about Bomba, GTOA. So biased are you that you lied about - or at best didn't bother to read - his comments regarding Ablett.

 

[speedybundy]

Yet you people bag Gary Ablett jr for "wanting to do something else in his life" over than play for Geelong.

Also, I had no problem with Bomber doing "something else in his life" if he hadn't lied about it, and had stayed away from any other clubs until after 2011 (when his contract was up), and hadn't bad-mouthed Gary Ablett at every turn publicly, and say how important loyalty and transperacy was, and then quit mid-contract to join another club and lie to Frank Costa about it.

Fact. Gary Ablett was out of contract when he left Geelong, so we couldn't hold him to his contract. He has a right to decide if he wants a new contract with Geelong or try elsewhere. I didn't like that he didn't stay, but he fulfilled his obligations.

Fact. Bomber left mid-contract, when he still was committed to the club. I hope he didn't get paid for 2011. If Bomber had fulfilled his contract, and then went and did something else, even join Essendon, I would have wished him well. But he left before his contract was up, and then wouldn't be honest with the club or our president, who without his support, Bomber would have gone in 2006. The club didn't sack Bomber in 2006 (and he deserved to be sacked at the time), but the club honored his contract, and then gave him another one (which he most certainly did deserve), and yet he couldn't return the favor.

I think, in hindsight, it would have been better if Bomber had left at the end of his last contract, in 2009. He would have gone out after just having coached us to our second flag. I would have been sad that he wasn't continuing, but I wouldn't be bitter, as it is his life. But he left half-way through his last contract, for more money and less responsibility at Essendon. Even here, if Bomber had just told the club that he got an offer from Essendon, and wanted to take it, I think the club would have given him his wish. His lying to them, and then isolating a player who has been made a big offer, while taking one yourself, means that you lose the high moral ground.

I've never bagged Gazza, he was being offered a ridiculous amount of money and the AFL was determined for him to go. No grudges there from me, and I reckon people who bag him for leaving (there's one poster who constantly refers to him as 'Judas') are insane.

I wasn't referring to bomber with the doing something else with his life by the way, I was referring to Nathan Ablett. I agree Bomber did go about it the wrong way, but in the end given what he gave us I hold no grudges. I think a change was right for the club anyway, yes he could've been more honest but I've got nothing but respect for the way he ran the football club prior to that.

 

[Goggin Our Best]

One thing Bomber did say when Ablett jnr was still at the club - and i respect Bombers honesty - is back in that period it wasnt uncommon for Melb Storm ( when they were winning flags at the same time as the Cats ) to come down and have a training run with the Cats

One night apparently they lined up Gary Ablett jnr against Billy Slater in a series of one off drills - and Bombers precise words at the time was that it was a " No Contest " -Slater did Ablett for pace- agility the lot

I dont care what anybody says - Slater is the most freakish footballer of any code ever full stop - his story is amazing - for a one time apprentice jockey riding trackwork for Gai Waterhouse at Randwick - and then to become a dead set superstar athletic full back in the rough and tumble of top flight Rugby League - Unbelievable

 

[FredLeDeux]

One thing Bomber did say when Ablett jnr was still at the club - and i respect Bombers honesty - is back in that period it wasnt uncommon for Melb Storm ( when they were winning flags at the same time as the Cats ) to come down and have a training run with the Cats

One night apparently they lined up Gary Ablett jnr against Billy Slater in a series of one off drills - and Bombers precise words at the time was that it was a " No Contest " -Slater did Ablett for pace- agility the lot

I dont care what anybody says - Slater is the most freakish footballer of any code ever full stop - his story is amazing - for a one time apprentice jockey riding trackwork for Gai Waterhouse at Randwick - and then to become a dead set superstar athletic full back in the rough and tumble of top flight Rugby League - Unbelievable

That's interesting, because in GAJ's last 2 peak years at Geelong, his copying and adaptation of Slater's jinking and balking moves was highly noticeable.

 

[PhatBoy]

What a bitter, bitter man!

Mark Thompson in his book talks about Nathan Ablett and says that he was better than Gary Ablett.

Firstly, Nathan Ablett was a sook. He was as soft as butter. There are hundreds of players in local footy, all across this fair land, who would give their left and right testicle to play AFL football, and yet this guy didn't want to because he didn't like the media spotlight. All silk and no substance.

You know what, Nath? Neither did your dad. But he still played the game. He shunned the media and the limelight, despite being talked about all the time, yet he still stayed in the game. He went walkies in 1991, but even then, came back, showing what playing football at the highest level meant to him.

Meanwhile, "Natalie" can't even play out more than a couple of seasons, before quitting because he couldn't cope with the attention.

Also, Bomber Thompson, saying that Nathan was better than Gary Ablett. Here we go again with Bomber potting Gazza jr.

He never accepted that Gazza was a better player than Bomber was on his best day. He bullied Ablett out of Geelong, and made his decision to go to Gold Coast easier, and then "Liar" Thompson, who criticised Ablett's loyalty, showed none himself by jumping to Essendon, after using the phone Geelong gave him for club business, and when Frank Costa asked him if he was speaking to Essendon, Bomber lied to his face. He lied to the man who was the sole reason that Bomber kept his job at Geelong and became a premiership coach, after taking 8 years to do it (Chris Scott took one year to do the same thing). Bomber sabotaged our 2010 season by focusing on bullying Ablett all season (Nathan would have left in five minutes under similar bullying, and would have run off, crying to mummy), and then apparently talking to Essendon on the phone DURING our Preliminary Final against Collingwood, costing us the match and possibly another flag.Further, Bomber then went to Essendon, and was involved with a club who doped their players. Karma couldn't hit his lying ass hard enough.

Gary Ablett jr had more talent than Nathan and Bomber put together.

I think this post is more bitter than anything Bomber has said or done.

For starters he didn't say Nathan was better. As I understand it he said he could have been 'every bit as good.'

Secondly, why are you so filthy that Nathan simply didn't want that lifestyle? You can't make someone want to do something. They either want to or they don't, and there is no f***ing chance that any of us should feel entitled enough that a guy who has his own life, should alter his decisions just for us when they go totally against his own desire in life.

The fact that Bomber described Nathan as being as good as Carey, and then saying he could have been as good as Gary Jr is also a point at which he reveals how good he thinks Gary Jr is.

What a shit post.

 

[PhatBoy]

One thing Bomber did say when Ablett jnr was still at the club - and i respect Bombers honesty - is back in that period it wasnt uncommon for Melb Storm ( when they were winning flags at the same time as the Cats ) to come down and have a training run with the Cats

One night apparently they lined up Gary Ablett jnr against Billy Slater in a series of one off drills - and Bombers precise words at the time was that it was a " No Contest " -Slater did Ablett for pace- agility the lot

I dont care what anybody says - Slater is the most freakish footballer of any code ever full stop - his story is amazing - for a one time apprentice jockey riding trackwork for Gai Waterhouse at Randwick - and then to become a dead set superstar athletic full back in the rough and tumble of top flight Rugby League - Unbelievable

I love Billy mate and without doubt he's an all time great of rugby league but as far as freakish goes, and just having an amazing aptitude together with a remarkable physical affinity for the game, Inglis, Sonny Bill and Hayne probably sit at the top of the pile in the last 15 years. Lockyer was probably an equally good fullback if you're talking on pure positional quality. The ability to do the freakish was something Johns and Fittler had a bit of a mortgage on for a long time too.

No question Slater is an absolute all time legend of the sport and athletically amazing but there are guys who have more physical gifts for the game than he does.

 

[Seeds]

Sweep up crew needed here in aisle four

 

[TheYid]

I liked Nathan Ablett and appreciate his contribution to our first premiership in decades. He played a great finals series and I'll never forget his first AFL goal- from a pass by his brother down at KP, IIRC. What a day.

Thanks Nathan!