No... I think the hammer is pretty close to the nail with what he said. Ablett was lucky to survive, and if it wasn't for the impact his departure might have had on Gaz, I don't reckon he would've been there in the last week in September.
It was a massive effort to become an AFL footballer (if you could call him that) in a few years, but the only reason he got the opportunity was because his name was Ablett. Therefore, it was, as the Essendon poster said, rather undeserving.
Ok......(deep breath).........
Given some of the comments on here, you would think Ablett is the worst player to ever pull on the Geelong guernsey. Which is patently wrong.
Fact 1: He's only played 32 games.
I would love to go through the first 32 games of Fevola, Hall, Pavlich, Brown and everyone else, and see exactly how their stats compared at the same time. I'm not saying Ablett will be a superstar of the competition, but given how his older brother broke out in his
sixth season, I tend to think making sweeping judgements after only 3 years (2 and a bit really) is premature.
Fact 2: He had his best season for Geelong in 2007 and deserved his premiership medal. He kicked 34 goals. More than anyone except Mooney and Steve Johnson. Not a bad effort I would have thought.
Yes he played some poor games (eg round 20 v North, Prelim final v Collingwood), but what's conveniently forgotten is he also played some good ones. For example Round 1 v Bulldogs, Round 2 v Carlton, Round 21 v Port, QF v North, GF v Port Adelaide. So to make a sweeping judgement that he was a passenger all season, and in September, is grossly unfair and incorrect.
He certainly needs to improve further, especially his strength and conditioning. But he's not quite the lump of dead wood some people insinuate.