Luke Ablett

[grayham]

Geez, I was impressed by his game. He is really becoming a great offensive midfielder. Quick to get it on the boot, and a nice boot too.

Buckley exposed him as not being a great defensive midfielder, and it took a while before kirk was moved on to him. Roos a bit disappointing there.
Kirk as the defensive midfielder and Ablett as the offensive one is a better combination than the reverse.

 

[Mike_B]

On a slightly unrelated note about NOG, does anyone else reckon he looks like Nathan Gibbs?

 

[liz]

Buckley exposed him as not being a great defensive midfielder, and it took a while before kirk was moved on to him. Roos a bit disappointing there.
Kirk as the defensive midfielder and Ablett as the offensive one is a better combination than the reverse.

Ablett has done some very good defensive jobs over the past two years. He was beaten soundly by Buckley last night but there are many more experienced players who have suffered that fate, so no real disgrace.

Don't agree with Kirk playing a defensive role and Nog an offensive one. Both have showed themselves more than capable of doing a bit of both at the same time. Kirk has been our most important ball winner in the scrimmages for two years, with B1 joining him this year. He also finds space when needed and gets the ball forward. Yet his opponent rarely has much influence on a game.

Nog isn't up to Kirk's standard yet but, particularly this year, he's kept some good players fairly quiet while making a real contribution himself as well.

Why pigeon hole them?

 

[meekaboy]

IMHO we gave Buckley too much latitude and gave him room to run.
Much of his effectivness could have been negated had we played him
tighter.

 

[grayham]

Ablett has done some very good defensive jobs over the past two years. He was beaten soundly by Buckley last night but there are many more experienced players who have suffered that fate, so no real disgrace.

Don't agree with Kirk playing a defensive role and Nog an offensive one. Both have showed themselves more than capable of doing a bit of both at the same time. Kirk has been our most important ball winner in the scrimmages for two years, with B1 joining him this year. He also finds space when needed and gets the ball forward. Yet his opponent rarely has much influence on a game.

Nog isn't up to Kirk's standard yet but, particularly this year, he's kept some good players fairly quiet while making a real contribution himself as well.

Why pigeon hole them?

Kirk defensive game is so good he can negate a player and still be constructivefor the swans. He's better at close in stuff and his preferense for handball is also suited for close in stuff that taggers find themselves in.
Ablett on the other hand is better with a bit more room to move (ie playing off his opponent), where he can get his long kicking going.

In a midfield low on offensive players, Ablett is wasted trying to negate opponents.

 

[Dow]

Kirk defensive game is so good he can negate a player and still be constructivefor the swans. He's better at close in stuff and his preferense for handball is also suited for close in stuff that taggers find themselves in.
Ablett on the other hand is better with a bit more room to move (ie playing off his opponent), where he can get his long kicking going.

In a midfield low on offensive players, Ablett is wasted trying to negate opponents.

Problem with Ablett is he struggles to win enough of his own football and when does break free his leg speed really hurts him. This has been his best year by far but he stills looks a fair while of producing regular good performances.

 

[ChubbMuff]

Kirk defensive game is so good he can negate a player and still be constructivefor the swans. He's better at close in stuff and his preferense for handball is also suited for close in stuff that taggers find themselves in.
Ablett on the other hand is better with a bit more room to move (ie playing off his opponent), where he can get his long kicking going.

Yeah, maybe Ablett should stay away from handballs after his lovely offload straight to Holland on Sat night.

 

[liz]

Problem with Ablett is he struggles to win enough of his own football and when does break free his leg speed really hurts him. This has been his best year by far but he stills looks a fair while of producing regular good performances.

Strongly disagree.

He has been regularly gathering 15+ possessions and has at least one 20+ game. They're not huge stats but nor are they shabby for a still-inexperienced player, particularly in the context of the Swans being a low possession gathering team.

Ablett is not slow by foot either. He's no Crouch but he'd be one of our quicker midfielders once he gets into gear. The role he's been playing this year hasn't called for him to sprint that much.

 

[Dow]

Strongly disagree.

He has been regularly gathering 15+ possessions and has at least one 20+ game. They're not huge stats but nor are they shabby for a still-inexperienced player, particularly in the context of the Swans being a low possession gathering team.

Ablett is not slow by foot either. He's no Crouch but he'd be one of our quicker midfielders once he gets into gear. The role he's been playing this year hasn't called for him to sprint that much.

Iam not really worried how many times he touches the footy in a game its more the the influence he has with those touches, I feel he dosent seem to use it that well often misses targets or just hands it over to the opposition. I only hope that by following a guy like buckley around he may have learnt alot more about the offensive side of his own game as for leg speed I dont think being one of our fatest midfielders means that hes actually that quick.

 

[liz]

He's made mistakes - and probably more than normal against the Pies- but enough of his disposals have been constructive enough to keep me satisfied at this stage of his career. He gets the ball moving very quickly in contested situations and usually to the advantage of the team.

His rate of all-round improvement over the past 12 months also gives me confidence that we will see further improvement in his disposals as he continues to develop.

 

[robbieando]

Luke Ablett for me has become one of the Swans more important players this season and surely has to be in the Top 10 of the Best and Fairest to this point. On Saturday Night, while not one of his better matches I felt at times he looked like a match-braker in the making, with the way he moved with the ball. If he can keep up with his current level of improvement and in particular his skill level, he will become one of the better midfielders in the league by the end of next season, if not before then.