Gary Ablett
March 22, 2009 12:00am
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25222066-661,00.html
I'VE been asked a lot since last year's Grand Final about why I got so emotional in the moments after the final siren.
My answer is simple. Playing in a grand final is why we play footy. Footballers play the game so that we can win premierships.
Everything we sacrifice during the year, all the hard work we put in as an individual and as a club, it's all for that one afternoon.
So when the siren sounded, it got to me that we'd put in all the work, but there was no taking it back. We'd have to go through another year of grind just to get another opportunity to win one.
You think about all the great footballers who've gone through their careers without winning a premiership.
Sure, we'd won a flag the previous season, but this was a chance to win another one and you never know whether that chance will come again.
Out on the ground, "Bomber" (Cats coach Mark Thompson) made sure he got around to the players, because he could see we were hurting.
He was great, he said to make sure we learned from it, that if we get in another situation like this, to make sure we don't let it slip again.
That evening, some of the players and girlfriends went out for a few beers just to be together and share the pain.
Whereas in 2007, I'd gone home to Geelong because I wanted to soak it all in and enjoy every moment.
I also spoke on the phone to my dad (Gary Sr) - who'd been through four losing grand finals as a player - and spent about an hour talking about how I felt.
He's an incredibly positive person, the old man, and spoke about how you can't change the result, all you can do is work towards the next one.
Since the loss, the players haven't spoken about it much. We try not to dwell on it.
Straight after the game we spoke about what a great opportunity it had been to do something special, but that it had gone. Since then, though, we haven't felt the need to sit down and review the game.
The players knew what went wrong, that, OK, the coach had given us a game plan and spoken to us after every quarter, but as players on the ground we hadn't adapted as the match unfolded around us.
We hadn't taken responsibility for making changes, which is something we usually pride ourselves on.
Maybe we as individuals had tried to win the match, rather than thinking first and foremost about what we could do to help the team.
We hadn't made sure we got across to help teammates and brought them into the game.
I wouldn't say we'll use the loss as motivation. Maybe individual players will feel that pain and draw on it, but as a group we want to move on.
It was the same when we won the 2007 Grand Final. As much as you want to enjoy it, you've got to shift your focus to the next challenge.
I'd say each of our players has probably had a look at a tape of last year's Grand Final - I had a really brief look at it - and it does hurt.
Our game plan was good enough to win, but we made a few errors that we don't normally make and Hawthorn played good footy.
There's no doubt every Geelong player had a real crack. I just got the sense some of our guys were much more nervous last year than they were going into the 2007 Grand Final.
We'd lost only one game during the season and the expectation was there, so it felt like there were a few nervous boys.
That can change how a player performs and if you've got five or six players down on the day, it has a real impact, especially on a team like us, which relies on everyone.
We normally enjoy the challenge of knowing that teams are coming after us and we still do, but on that day there were perhaps a few guys who struggled with it.
We had chances, but maybe just some guys were nervous.
The other thing people ask me about the Grand Final is whether I was happy with my game.
The answer is 'No', because the bottom line is it was a losing Grand Final.
There was no happiness. I was shattered.
I'd rather have had one kick and won the match.
March 22, 2009 12:00am
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25222066-661,00.html
I'VE been asked a lot since last year's Grand Final about why I got so emotional in the moments after the final siren.
My answer is simple. Playing in a grand final is why we play footy. Footballers play the game so that we can win premierships.
Everything we sacrifice during the year, all the hard work we put in as an individual and as a club, it's all for that one afternoon.
So when the siren sounded, it got to me that we'd put in all the work, but there was no taking it back. We'd have to go through another year of grind just to get another opportunity to win one.
You think about all the great footballers who've gone through their careers without winning a premiership.
Sure, we'd won a flag the previous season, but this was a chance to win another one and you never know whether that chance will come again.
Out on the ground, "Bomber" (Cats coach Mark Thompson) made sure he got around to the players, because he could see we were hurting.
He was great, he said to make sure we learned from it, that if we get in another situation like this, to make sure we don't let it slip again.
That evening, some of the players and girlfriends went out for a few beers just to be together and share the pain.
Whereas in 2007, I'd gone home to Geelong because I wanted to soak it all in and enjoy every moment.
I also spoke on the phone to my dad (Gary Sr) - who'd been through four losing grand finals as a player - and spent about an hour talking about how I felt.
He's an incredibly positive person, the old man, and spoke about how you can't change the result, all you can do is work towards the next one.
Since the loss, the players haven't spoken about it much. We try not to dwell on it.
Straight after the game we spoke about what a great opportunity it had been to do something special, but that it had gone. Since then, though, we haven't felt the need to sit down and review the game.
The players knew what went wrong, that, OK, the coach had given us a game plan and spoken to us after every quarter, but as players on the ground we hadn't adapted as the match unfolded around us.
We hadn't taken responsibility for making changes, which is something we usually pride ourselves on.
Maybe we as individuals had tried to win the match, rather than thinking first and foremost about what we could do to help the team.
We hadn't made sure we got across to help teammates and brought them into the game.
I wouldn't say we'll use the loss as motivation. Maybe individual players will feel that pain and draw on it, but as a group we want to move on.
It was the same when we won the 2007 Grand Final. As much as you want to enjoy it, you've got to shift your focus to the next challenge.
I'd say each of our players has probably had a look at a tape of last year's Grand Final - I had a really brief look at it - and it does hurt.
Our game plan was good enough to win, but we made a few errors that we don't normally make and Hawthorn played good footy.
There's no doubt every Geelong player had a real crack. I just got the sense some of our guys were much more nervous last year than they were going into the 2007 Grand Final.
We'd lost only one game during the season and the expectation was there, so it felt like there were a few nervous boys.
That can change how a player performs and if you've got five or six players down on the day, it has a real impact, especially on a team like us, which relies on everyone.
We normally enjoy the challenge of knowing that teams are coming after us and we still do, but on that day there were perhaps a few guys who struggled with it.
We had chances, but maybe just some guys were nervous.
The other thing people ask me about the Grand Final is whether I was happy with my game.
The answer is 'No', because the bottom line is it was a losing Grand Final.
There was no happiness. I was shattered.
I'd rather have had one kick and won the match.
.
