Gary Ablett.....

[Damon_3388]

Any Collingwood supporter that claims Gary Ablett gets cheap possessions is having a laugh, you have the king of those at the helm in Swan.

You mean Swan, who has more Inside 50s, more clearances, just as many score involvements and 1%ers (which I'm mentioning to show he puts in just as much defensive and off-the-ball effort as Ablett), all with less disposals per game and less time on the ground than Gary Ablett? Right

 

[luthor]

Gablett is a useless stat-seeking hack.

Geelong should wake up to him and trade him to us for Scott Harding

 

[jesterwester]

Gablett is a useless stat-seeking hack.

Geelong should wake up to him and trade him to us for Scott Harding

I lold
Mark Seaby's on the market, maybe Geelong are after a ruckmen?? (oh yeah we'll throw in our first pick to sweeten the deal)

Watched the game tonight with some interest, yeah Ablett gets 40 touches most games nowadays, & he certainly doesn't have to play the inside role at Geelong with the brilliant midfield he has around him but the balance that boy has is phenomenal. He holds his ground like no other under incredible pressure.. But he is a very smart midfielder. 1-2's are useful for what he does, one, it gives him that extra step on his chasers, as when he gets the ball hes moving, almost impossible to catch him, and two, his dt score goes up. Why he had to handball quite a lot tonight in the 1-2-3's was more due to the work that the bulldogs were doing off the ball tonight, maybe rather than finding faults with a guy who was working his but off to get the ball moving /actually trying to do something, maybe credit the bulldogs for their good work?

 

[The Rusty Clam]

Scott Harding + Travis Johnstone, and you've got a deal.

Anyway you look at it 40 posessions is a rare achievement, and a bloody good game. And if these 'cheap stats' are so easy to get why aren't more mid-fielders racking up 40's?

 

[Geelongfor2008]

I thought it was getting too popular to knock Ablett over the past few weeks so haven't said anything but tonight he had the least impact with 40 posessions in a game I've ever seen.

This seems to be a regular occurrence of late

you obviously didnt not to go to the game.
ablett was EASY B.O.G did you see how many tackles he shrugged through, the inside 50s, contested possesions the NEAR perfect disposal

dont winge because you dont have an ablett.

 

[SirJimi05]

Why he had to handball quite a lot tonight in the 1-2-3's was more due to the work that the bulldogs were doing off the ball tonight, maybe rather than finding faults with a guy who was working his but off to get the ball moving /actually trying to do something, maybe credit the bulldogs for their good work?

He has been doing the exact same thing week in week out all season.

2009 - 236 kicks / 383 handballs
2008 - 288 kicks / 318 handballs
2007 - 359 kicks / 309 handballs

See the pattern emerging?

 

[SirJimi05]

you obviously didnt not to go to the game.
ablett was EASY B.O.G did you see how many tackles he shrugged through, the inside 50s, contested possesions the NEAR perfect disposal

dont winge because you dont have an ablett.

Hopefully this will be the 3 votes that gets him the Brownlow he so dearly craves so that he can go back to kciking the footy and not chasing stats?

 

[Geelongfor2008]

Hopefully this will be the 3 votes that gets him the Brownlow he so dearly craves so that he can go back to kciking the footy and not chasing stats?

lol regardless of the easy 1-2s he still is in the packs more then anyone
( not including selwood )

 

[jesterwester]

He has been doing the exact same thing week in week out all season.

2009 - 236 kicks / 383 handballs
2008 - 288 kicks / 318 handballs
2007 - 359 kicks / 309 handballs

See the pattern emerging?

Thats a freakish amount of handballs. What i would like to know is how that correlates to the handball:kick ratio of Geelong this year. He doesn't seem to have changed his role a great deal this year, maybe its something they have tried all year to emphasise his running- a luxury that geelong are blessed with, especially with the calibre around him.
if it takes 15 'cheap' disposals to emphasise the other 25 touches where he does something amazing with the ball, im sure Geelong or Ablett won't mind at all!
Having said that, he didn't seem to have his usual impact tonight with 40 touches, although he was prevalent when Geelong had a run on in the 3rd.

 

[Byron_Clanger]

that sure is a delicious amount of handballs

 

[dumb]

something drilled in by the coach to do whether or not there are players there (to keep in the habit of confusing opposition with handball)? if the coach didn't want him doing it i think he would have been told to reel it in by now? obviously there must be some deeper reason for it (ie, space as already mentioned in the thread), as selfish as he might seem/be.

for what it's worth, run+handball also saves bouncing the ball, which if you're wanting to anal retentively eliminate all errors you might try... they can certainly creep in there (less controllable than a handball anyway, get tackled+pinged).

 

[sTeeL]

I think Ablett is a super player. But 5 I50's for 40 disposals is pretty poor effort for a midfielder. Along with 11 contested possesions and only 3 clearances shows he spent most of his time away from his most damaging place... in and under of the packs.

 

[Hawthorn1971]

You are an absolute idiot. Have you ever played sport at an elite or semi elite level? When you put so much into something, Dedicate years off your life to achieve a goal and fall at the last hurdle it hurts. Bagging Gazza out because he had a cry is very basic. You must have goals in life otherwise you'll never get anywhere. Don't knock someone because they have you covered in life achievements. It takes a ****head like you to sit behind your computer and bag people that are having a go in life. I pity you.

Glad I touched a nerve Princess.

You pity me? Much appreciated, but it is me who has truckloads of pity for you, for pain and suffering are part of your DNA as a supporter...

Be angry at whoever led you down the Geelong path as a young child, not at me....

 

[Rustin Cohle]

Hypothetically speaking, what would people say is more valuable to Geelong out of the following: Ablett racking up 40 possessions in the same way he did last night, or Ablett kicking four goals as a forward but only having 20 possessions? I'm speaking in terms of impact on the game here.

If he only had five inside 50's then it must have been someone else delivering the ball to the forwards all night and Geelong has the midfield depth to afford not having Ablett purely in the middle.

This is purely hypothetical, but I'm interested as to what people would rate as being more important to Geelong.

 

[markr]

I've often thought that Ablett's high possession games didn't necessarily mean much, but I don't think that reflects poorly on Ablett.

Watching last night it (and most weeks) it was clear the Dogs all had instructions to stop him, he would get mobbed by 2 or 3 whenever he got the ball, often meaning a team mate was free over the top as Bulldogs players left their opponent. Also the Dogs would block his run at every opportunity. That mobbing meant it was pretty rare that he could actually get a kick off, he just didn't have time.

Meanwhile the Cats know how damaging he can be and are helping him to break his tag, so they try to get the ball into his hands at every opportunity.

So it's ridiculous to call him a handball merchant or accuse him of hunting cheap possessions, but in the same way it is ridiculous to call him BOG and rave about his game just because he got 40 touches.

I haven't seen stats for the game, but I would probably have Cooney as BOG, his runs out of the pack forward of centre where just so damaging and back to the Cooney who won the Brownlow, with maybe Bartel best of the Cats just because of his precise kicking.

 

[HolyWars]

Idiots.
You would all love to have Ablett in your team.

 

[FRUMPY]

Ablett had around 20 touches in the first half and wasnt a factor in the game. They were mainly handballs and in the back half and had no impact. In the second half he got more touches from the centre forward, ran the lines and kicked more. Definetly helped turn the game in the 3rd.

I still think his possessions are over rated (especially the second half of the year) Too many handballs which dont have as much effect on the game as when he used to run the lines and kick

 

[FRAGGA]

FWIW, Ablett is second for contested possessions - 5 behind Judd, although Ablett has played 3 less games...

[B]CONTESTED POSSESSIONS[/B]
[U][B]player         team     total[/B][/U]
Judd, Chris     CARL     218
Ablett, Gary     GFC     213
Swan, Dane     COLL     212
Selwood, Joel     GFC     202
Tuck, Shane     RICH     187
Watson, Jobe     ESS     184

http://superstats.heraldsun.com.au/leaders/contested-poss.html

JUDD is much better than ablett....Ablett gets all his possessions in the defensive 50, doesnt get half as many clearances as juddy asnd gets cheap 1-2's....end of story....juddy sends the ball inside 50 more than anyone else.....

2009 League Total Inside 50s Leaders (Minimum 4 Games Played)​

Rank
Player
Team
Games
Last Game
Stat
1
Chris Judd
Carlton
20
3 v Port Adelaide, Round 20
118
2
Jason Gram
St Kilda
19
4 v Essendon, Round 20
112
3
Leigh Montagna
St Kilda
19
5 v Essendon, Round 20
107
4
Danyle Pearce
Port Adelaide
20
1 v Carlton, Round 20
106
4
Adam Goodes
Sydney
20
6 v Geelong, Round 20
106
6
Dane Swan
Collingwood
20
6 v Richmond, Round 20
101
6
Quinten Lynch
West Coast
20
5 v North Melbourne, Round 20
101
8
Paul Chapman
Geelong
16
7 v Adelaide, Round 18
98
9
Bryce Gibbs
Carlton
20
8 v Port Adelaide, Round 20
97
10
Daniel Rich
Brisbane
20
5 v Western Bulldogs, Round 20
94

2009 League Total Clearances Leaders (Minimum 4 Games Played)​

Rank
Player
Team
Games
Last Game
Stat
1
Chris Judd
Carlton
20
4 v Port Adelaide, Round 20
149
2
Matthew Boyd
Western Bulldogs
20
7 v Brisbane, Round 20
118
3
Dane Swan
Collingwood
20
2 v Richmond, Round 20
109
3
Nick Dal Santo
St Kilda
19
11 v Essendon, Round 20
109
5
Sam Mitchell
Hawthorn
20
1 v Adelaide, Round 20
107
6
Jude Bolton
Sydney
20
6 v Geelong, Round 20
106
6
Matt Priddis
West Coast
18
10 v North Melbourne, Round 20
106
8
Brett Kirk
Sydney
20
4 v Geelong, Round 20
105
9
Simon Black
Brisbane
19
10 v Western Bulldogs, Round 20
104
10
Joel Selwood
Geelong
20
5 v Sydney, Round 20
98

2009 League Total 1st Possessions Leaders (Minimum 4 Games Played)​

Rank
Player
Team
Games
Last Game
Stat
1
Matthew Boyd
Western Bulldogs
20
10 v Brisbane, Round 20
150
2
Chris Judd
Carlton
20
5 v Port Adelaide, Round 20
137
3
Matt Priddis
West Coast
18
11 v North Melbourne, Round 20
129
4
Brett Kirk
Sydney
20
4 v Geelong, Round 20
125
5
Simon Black
Brisbane
19
12 v Western Bulldogs, Round 20
121
6
Aaron Sandilands
Fremantle
18
9 v Melbourne, Round 20
119
6
Lenny Hayes
St Kilda
18
4 v Essendon, Round 20
119
8
Sam Mitchell
Hawthorn
20
0 v Adelaide, Round 20
118
9
Jobe Watson
Essendon
19
5 v St Kilda, Round 20
117
10
Shane Tuck
Richmond
17
8 v Collingwood, Round 20
116

2009 League Total Scoring Assists Leaders (Minimum 4 Games Played)​

Rank
Player
Team
Games
Last Game
Stat
1
Dane Swan
Collingwood
20
3 v Richmond, Round 20
56
2
Brad Johnson
Western Bulldogs
20
2 v Brisbane, Round 20
48
3
Chris Judd
Carlton
20
2 v Port Adelaide, Round 20
46
4
Steve Johnson
Geelong
16
2 v Sydney, Round 20
45
4
Robert Gray
Port Adelaide
19
1 v Carlton, Round 20
45
6
Cameron Mooney
Geelong
19
2 v Sydney, Round 20
44
6
Chance Bateman
Hawthorn
20
1 v Adelaide, Round 20
44
8
Adam Goodes
Sydney
20
4 v Geelong, Round 20
43
9
Bryce Gibbs
Carlton
20
1 v Port Adelaide, Round 20
41
9
Leigh Montagna
St Kilda
19
3 v Essendon, Round 20
41
9
Jason Akermanis
Western Bulldogs
19
2 v Brisbane, Round 20
41

 

[FRUMPY]

Re: Stats and Gazza.

I reckon Geelong have definetly been told to play through Ablett (which is fair enough, he is a champ) but this year and especially the 2nd half of the season his disposals have had little effect on the game. He needs to get back to running,breaking the lines and kicking more. Plus he is getting too many of his touches (cheap touches) in the backline. Needs to get more forward of centre

 

[shintemaster]

I've often thought that Ablett's high possession games didn't necessarily mean much, but I don't think that reflects poorly on Ablett.

Watching last night it (and most weeks) it was clear the Dogs all had instructions to stop him, he would get mobbed by 2 or 3 whenever he got the ball, often meaning a team mate was free over the top as Bulldogs players left their opponent. Also the Dogs would block his run at every opportunity. That mobbing meant it was pretty rare that he could actually get a kick off, he just didn't have time.

Meanwhile the Cats know how damaging he can be and are helping him to break his tag, so they try to get the ball into his hands at every opportunity.

So it's ridiculous to call him a handball merchant or accuse him of hunting cheap possessions, but in the same way it is ridiculous to call him BOG and rave about his game just because he got 40 touches.

I haven't seen stats for the game, but I would probably have Cooney as BOG, his runs out of the pack forward of centre where just so damaging and back to the Cooney who won the Brownlow, with maybe Bartel best of the Cats just because of his precise kicking.

IMO this is the perfect description. It definitely wasn't one of Ablett's best games. He was solid and the Cats did what they could to open him up. The bolded part is exactly right.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Re: Stats and Gazza.

Definitely getting too much of the ball in the back half. Opposition coaches must breathe a sigh of relief that he's playing so deep in defence and not really hurting the opposition. Needs to return to the forward line and cover for the loss of Johnson and Chapman. He also needs to lift his head occasionally and look for the long option. It seems to me he handballs/kicks to the first person he sees - usually no more than 35v metres away - and never tries to break the lines by kicking to the long option.

 

[smiddaz123]

Re: Stats and Gazza.

Do people realise that getting 1-2s and padding his stats doesn't do shit to his Brownlow chances?

Umpires don't vote with access to the stats. It's all about how they've seen the game.

He's still probably the best midfielder in the AFL.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Re: Stats and Gazza.

He's still probably the best midfielder in the AFL.

That doesnt put him beyond criticism.

 

[AG]

Re: Stats and Gazza.

That doesnt put him beyond criticism.

It doesn't but some of the comments about him in this and similar threads are ridiculous.

 

[Geelongsince1984]

Your spot on mate , plenty of people think exactly that except for of course the media and the cat supporters. The cheapest 40 possesion game i have ever seen nearly. The media will come out and say "oh his got another 40 stats here is more brownlow votes...", u gotta actually wonder if they watch the game and see where and what he is doing with the ball instead of looking at how many he has had at the end of the game.

If you watched the game then even the commentators said he didnt have much of an impact for 40 possessions.. :S