malvern
Team Captain
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- Apr 29, 2005
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Looks like they were telling the truth when they said he wouldn't play this year.........
Looking for signs of a son of a gun
June 27, 2005
He's not ready to play AFL, but Nathan Ablett is showing he has his father's footballing instincts. Michael Gleeson reports.
Like a cooing grandparent studying a newborn for any hint that the baby throws to your side of the family, you sit in the stands seeking signs of Gary.
Look at the shoulders. And the thighs. My God, how big are his legs? What about the way he walks, that is Gary all over. But he is bigger than Gary - and totally different from Gary jnr. And that is before he tries to get a kick.
Welcome to the life of Nathan Ablett.
After half a season, the much talked-about, yet most reluctant AFL footballer is coming along very nicely, we can report. But don't expect him to play senior football this year. Maybe next, but he will play.
"He definitely has the look of an AFL player, but he is just raw," said former Collingwood premiership player Gavin Crosisca, now coaching North Ballarat in the VFL.
"He is nowhere near ready for senior AFL footy. I would doubt he would even play next year unless he came on quickly, but he is definitely a development type and someone you would persist with.
"He moves well, he is nice and big, there is plenty of development in him but I definitely wouldn't be rushing him. He has a whole pile of puppy fat on him but two or three or four years of weights will certainly fix that up.
"Then it will depend on how he is mentally. It is a heap of baggage to be carrying. I feel sorry for the kid."
That sort of observation also follows any comment on Nathan: he has to wear the additional burden of being the son of one of the best of all time. He should be at least able to thank his older brother for blazing a trail for him, but so successfully has Gary cut that path he might have only made things more difficult for Nathan. Gary is rapidly emerging as an elite player in his own right.
For all of that, though, Nathan Ablett approaches his game in an uncomplicated manner. He began the year as a key forward but in recent weeks has been thrown to the back line to continue his education.
Last week against Crosisca's North Ballarat, Ablett played centre half-back on everyone from zippy smalls to hard running big centre half-forwards, before repairing to the goal square to mind former Carlton and Kangaroos ruckman Mark Porter. It was a searching examination and he should have finished the day comfortable with his efforts.
In the second term he beat Porter for strength one-out in the square which, for a teenager who has not come through the TAC Cup system and was last year playing in a low-key beachside competition, was a significant effort.
The opening term offered a glimpse that the sharpness of his brain might be as important to him as the sharpness of his hands, those hands equally clean above his head marking and below his knees in packs.
With a loose ball wobbling free on a flank he was first to the contest with two opponents likely to be upon him in quick time. Without a look over a shoulder to locate a teammate, Ablett gathered the ball and, rather than attempt to evade the tacklers or to hunch down to trap the ball in waiting for the umpire's whistle, he instead raised himself up, puffed out his chest bracing for impact and at the very last moment before being tackled, flicked a look-away handball over his shoulder to a teammate, who was seemingly taken aback to find the ball shooting backwards at him and fumbled it. So, in the event, a ball-up resulted, but it revealed a process of thought that was both inventive and clear under pressure.
On another occasion he was again one-out and brought the ball to ground, where he then beat a quick small player trying to crumb the ball. So in the one contest he beat a tall and a small one-out.
Later, running out to meet a loose ball after following his opponent down to the half-forward line, he gathered on the half-volley and shot out a handball in the one movement. Unfortunately the ball was soon turned over and Ablett found himself having to try to make ground to get back to cover his man.
He was running in quicksand. The famed powerful Ablett legs were leaden as he laboured over the ground.
"His general conditioning is down," said Box Hill Hawks coach Andy Collins. "He is potentially a really good full-forward or key forward but the conditioning program over the next few years will be important.
"He is very neat, has got good hands, can jump and is quite explosive. He just needs a really big pre-season or two."
Sandringham coach Mark Williams agreed saying that coming into the system from outside the normal route was making life more difficult.
"He is quite highly skilled for a big bloke," Williams said. "But he is going to take a year or maybe two years to get going because of how far back he is coming from.
"Having the TAC Cup background you can move on pretty quick, I reckon, because the stuff that you learn in the TAC Cup can be built upon but, if you don't have that real base, without the discipline, the diet, the weights and all the game-plan stuff and style, it's harder to get the advancement quickly. I think he is going to be a pretty good player. He has the size and he definitely has the ability. It is a matter of honing his skills and getting experience at VFL level."
This lack of fitness is exploited by opposition teams and coaches. "When we played him, because he is such a big boy, the main thing I said was to just run him off his legs and just keep him moving to really work him over," Springvale coach Peter Banfield said.
"The day we played him he really stuck to his task, because we did try and run him all over the place, but he kept at it. So from a work-rate point of view and an attitude to keep working, he was really good and he kept having a crack and kept at it no matter how much work we were trying to make him do.
"He didn't have a huge impact in the game - he didn't all of a sudden have full control of the back line or anything. But I was impressed that he just stuck at it and kept going when he was probably struggling for fitness."
Along with opponents wanting to run him around Ablett faces opponents who have heard the hype and set themselves up for the game. Many of these are players who have been around a while, including several opposition captains.
"Tim Walsh (No. 4 draft pick for the Western Bulldogs in 2002, who has played one AFL game so far) played on him and he built himself up for it because the bloke was getting a bit of media and that and that's the type of bloke he is getting," Werribee coach Simon Atkins said. "He is getting third and fourth-year players at AFL level."
Of keenest interest was the observation made by one coach who didn't want to be named: "It's scary how much he looked like his old man.
"He did one thing against us: he grabbed the ball in one step, swooped on it and handballed it as quick as anything then bounced off a bloke's head. It was just Gary."
This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2005/06/26/1119724524672.html
Looking for signs of a son of a gun
June 27, 2005
He's not ready to play AFL, but Nathan Ablett is showing he has his father's footballing instincts. Michael Gleeson reports.
Like a cooing grandparent studying a newborn for any hint that the baby throws to your side of the family, you sit in the stands seeking signs of Gary.
Look at the shoulders. And the thighs. My God, how big are his legs? What about the way he walks, that is Gary all over. But he is bigger than Gary - and totally different from Gary jnr. And that is before he tries to get a kick.
Welcome to the life of Nathan Ablett.
After half a season, the much talked-about, yet most reluctant AFL footballer is coming along very nicely, we can report. But don't expect him to play senior football this year. Maybe next, but he will play.
"He definitely has the look of an AFL player, but he is just raw," said former Collingwood premiership player Gavin Crosisca, now coaching North Ballarat in the VFL.
"He is nowhere near ready for senior AFL footy. I would doubt he would even play next year unless he came on quickly, but he is definitely a development type and someone you would persist with.
"He moves well, he is nice and big, there is plenty of development in him but I definitely wouldn't be rushing him. He has a whole pile of puppy fat on him but two or three or four years of weights will certainly fix that up.
"Then it will depend on how he is mentally. It is a heap of baggage to be carrying. I feel sorry for the kid."
That sort of observation also follows any comment on Nathan: he has to wear the additional burden of being the son of one of the best of all time. He should be at least able to thank his older brother for blazing a trail for him, but so successfully has Gary cut that path he might have only made things more difficult for Nathan. Gary is rapidly emerging as an elite player in his own right.
For all of that, though, Nathan Ablett approaches his game in an uncomplicated manner. He began the year as a key forward but in recent weeks has been thrown to the back line to continue his education.
Last week against Crosisca's North Ballarat, Ablett played centre half-back on everyone from zippy smalls to hard running big centre half-forwards, before repairing to the goal square to mind former Carlton and Kangaroos ruckman Mark Porter. It was a searching examination and he should have finished the day comfortable with his efforts.
In the second term he beat Porter for strength one-out in the square which, for a teenager who has not come through the TAC Cup system and was last year playing in a low-key beachside competition, was a significant effort.
The opening term offered a glimpse that the sharpness of his brain might be as important to him as the sharpness of his hands, those hands equally clean above his head marking and below his knees in packs.
With a loose ball wobbling free on a flank he was first to the contest with two opponents likely to be upon him in quick time. Without a look over a shoulder to locate a teammate, Ablett gathered the ball and, rather than attempt to evade the tacklers or to hunch down to trap the ball in waiting for the umpire's whistle, he instead raised himself up, puffed out his chest bracing for impact and at the very last moment before being tackled, flicked a look-away handball over his shoulder to a teammate, who was seemingly taken aback to find the ball shooting backwards at him and fumbled it. So, in the event, a ball-up resulted, but it revealed a process of thought that was both inventive and clear under pressure.
On another occasion he was again one-out and brought the ball to ground, where he then beat a quick small player trying to crumb the ball. So in the one contest he beat a tall and a small one-out.
Later, running out to meet a loose ball after following his opponent down to the half-forward line, he gathered on the half-volley and shot out a handball in the one movement. Unfortunately the ball was soon turned over and Ablett found himself having to try to make ground to get back to cover his man.
He was running in quicksand. The famed powerful Ablett legs were leaden as he laboured over the ground.
"His general conditioning is down," said Box Hill Hawks coach Andy Collins. "He is potentially a really good full-forward or key forward but the conditioning program over the next few years will be important.
"He is very neat, has got good hands, can jump and is quite explosive. He just needs a really big pre-season or two."
Sandringham coach Mark Williams agreed saying that coming into the system from outside the normal route was making life more difficult.
"He is quite highly skilled for a big bloke," Williams said. "But he is going to take a year or maybe two years to get going because of how far back he is coming from.
"Having the TAC Cup background you can move on pretty quick, I reckon, because the stuff that you learn in the TAC Cup can be built upon but, if you don't have that real base, without the discipline, the diet, the weights and all the game-plan stuff and style, it's harder to get the advancement quickly. I think he is going to be a pretty good player. He has the size and he definitely has the ability. It is a matter of honing his skills and getting experience at VFL level."
This lack of fitness is exploited by opposition teams and coaches. "When we played him, because he is such a big boy, the main thing I said was to just run him off his legs and just keep him moving to really work him over," Springvale coach Peter Banfield said.
"The day we played him he really stuck to his task, because we did try and run him all over the place, but he kept at it. So from a work-rate point of view and an attitude to keep working, he was really good and he kept having a crack and kept at it no matter how much work we were trying to make him do.
"He didn't have a huge impact in the game - he didn't all of a sudden have full control of the back line or anything. But I was impressed that he just stuck at it and kept going when he was probably struggling for fitness."
Along with opponents wanting to run him around Ablett faces opponents who have heard the hype and set themselves up for the game. Many of these are players who have been around a while, including several opposition captains.
"Tim Walsh (No. 4 draft pick for the Western Bulldogs in 2002, who has played one AFL game so far) played on him and he built himself up for it because the bloke was getting a bit of media and that and that's the type of bloke he is getting," Werribee coach Simon Atkins said. "He is getting third and fourth-year players at AFL level."
Of keenest interest was the observation made by one coach who didn't want to be named: "It's scary how much he looked like his old man.
"He did one thing against us: he grabbed the ball in one step, swooped on it and handballed it as quick as anything then bounced off a bloke's head. It was just Gary."
This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2005/06/26/1119724524672.html
