Autopsy 'Remember when...' - Volume III: 1989

[year of the cat]

Unlike the Gastev bump which also ended his career a few years later!!!

 

[wazcats]

The great unanswered question is - why didn't Steve Hocking give Dermott another love tap when he first got on him? Instead he gets outmarked twice by a player who should have been off the ground injured.

 

[wazcats]

PS - no one else read the Tony Wilson article? It's a p!sser.

 

[bobbycatsfanme]

Vinum sorry I do not have any games from that 89 series unfortunately I'm 26 and that year was only when I started to get into the footy. You mentioned how would Gary Ablett go today and I reckon I am his best judge because I have gone over every piece of footage, book biography's and news paper articles you can possibly think of. I guess looking into it closer I am a massive fan of sports all sports around the world I just love the drama it brings and the reason why I'm so obsessed with sport is because it's all real and genuine and nothing else in life is like that. I saw Gary Ablett play in some of his most celebrated perfomances and saw one goal that I never ever seen on footage anywhere again which has to be the most freakish goal of all-time similar to Daicos against us at Waverley soccered it on the boundary except Ablett kicked this from about 45 metres out. To me there are currently 3 athletes I use to gain inspiration from in my everyday life and own training and they are Michael Jordan, Gary Ablett and the original Ronaldo. Gazza would have no worries at all in todays game because I still haven't seen another football player apart from Koutoufides and Darryl White who had absolutely everything without having to train the house down like Judd and Jnr Ablett have to do today. He had a remarkable vertical leap and he still holds the junior records in Myrtreford for the leaping tests, but it just wasn't the leap it was also the hangtime which he generated through the torso and backside that allowed him to leap in the air and then with momentum swing his body to which ever side very similar to what the black americans can do in the NBA.

 

[bobbycatsfanme]

and then he also had the speed and if he applied himself would have been an track athlete because his brothers Geoff and Kevin were exceptionally quick and Kevin won the halftime sprints on a couple of occasions for Hawthorn himself. Add the strength he got through those tree trunk thighs and he was unmatched. The reason why I admire him so much is because he had to deal with terrible issues of field yet produced on field like he did is just a true testiment to his greatness.
If you watching the tennis at the moment I look at someone like Rafel Nadal who would definitely be in Ablett's league athletically and they could easily make the transformation to AFL or any other sport in the world and not just be good at it but be awesome and Gary was no different. So I think he'd have no troubles playing today's game and if anything would help the game evolve with the way he could bust a pack and leap and mark when he was at his peak

 

[bobbycatsfanme]

it's easy to forget as time goes by but today's footballer's having to contend with a Wayne Carey or Gary Ablett when they were at their best would be like playing a Brendon Goddard the way he played in that 1st grand final last year but at that same level for the next 9 years in a row and unfortunately most cannot obtain that level probably because it came so naturally to the greats who were simply more superior in athletiscm

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

The great unanswered question is - why didn't Steve Hocking give Dermott another love tap when he first got on him? Instead he gets outmarked twice by a player who should have been off the ground injured.

I'm completely with you on this one - particularly the first mark Brereton took , Steve should have kept coming and spoilt front on ( with PLENTY of contact) and who knows what could have happened.

 

[Catsace]

I'm completely with you on this one - particularly the first mark Brereton took , Steve should have kept coming and spoilt front on ( with PLENTY of contact) and who knows what could have happened.

I can say one thing, Brereton's astonishing ability to pluck the ball from behind Hocking certainly made me question the old Tom Hafey value of 'playing in front'. Not like Derm was especially tall, was he about 188 cm or so? But was deflating for Geelong to see him hurt us on the scoreboard like that so soon after having the stuffing knocked out of him.

 

[vinum coupe]

it's easy to forget as time goes by but today's footballer's having to contend with a Wayne Carey or Gary Ablett when they were at their best would be like playing a Brendon Goddard the way he played in that 1st grand final last year but at that same level for the next 9 years in a row and unfortunately most cannot obtain that level probably because it came so naturally to the greats who were simply more superior in athletiscm

Love your passion mate.
And I know this is not an Ablett thread, but he was not consistent !

Gaz was a tiny bit like golf.
You play crap for 16 holes, have 2 awesome birdies and it drags you back.

 

[bobbycatsfanme]

not consistent? I truly argue against that but if suspensions and injury are put into that statement then you have somewhat of a legitimate argument. But his first year won best & fairest and polled in the brownlow that year, 85 he played the 20 games from forward flank and kicked 83 goals (yes 83 goals playing forward flank) wonder if Stevie J can do the same in 2011, 86 he only managed 15 games because of a knee injury but still slotted 65 goals go check the stats yourself. He walked away from the game due to depression in 91 but decided to give AFL one more crack so Malcom gave him more time at full forward he kicked 72 goals that year and was instrumental in that finals series again and beat his opponent in the 92 grand final but of course the rest was history.
From 1993 till his retirement, people think he was the best full forward of all-time which is wrong in my opinion because that goes to John Coleman as Ablett only played 4 seasons at full forward in his 14 year career.

 

[bobbycatsfanme]

He had to play alongside a group of complete ****ing duds and Billy Brownless was a dud, the guy was 6ft 4 and weighed 100kg and couldn't even bust packs or hit guys in front of him even if his sons life was in jeopardy. A shame Chapman wasn't born in his era ay.
His worst games of all-time were in the 94 and 95 grand final but when the midfield is getting absolutely flogged then it's hard have any impact at all in that situation and both those games were over at halftime like the Collingwood prelim last year

 

[bobbycatsfanme]

He has kicked 64 goals from 16 finals appearances and averaged 4 goal 4 behinds playing forward flank/full forward in those finals.

Just for a comparison, Wayne Carey played in 23 finals and booted exactly the same amount of goals of 64 although centre half forward he played, one can argue they had a superior side to ours in hindsight with some of their forward line players.

 

[bobbycatsfanme]

sorry vinum but I get very passionate when it comes to arguing about Gazzathis is why I'm still a little pissed off as to why the AFL have not made a detailed movie on his career so that the younger generation and even the new fans taking up our sport can see why he was one of our best and not just the little snipets that flash across screen from time to time.

You know your good when you retired over a decade ago and can walk into the Geelong changerooms in mid 2008 and the whole room goes silent and players eyes are fixed in awe on the great man as talks with his son

 

[vinum coupe]

I was at all of those games Bobby.
He was not a consistent footballer.

 

[vinum coupe]

And although 'stats' annoy the crap out of me when you were at the games and have an opinion.

On 118 occasions out of his 243 games for Geelong he had 12 or less kicks.

And in 54 of those games he had 9 or less kicks.

The reason he kicked 1000 goals with those stats is because he was a freak.
I am not doubting how good he was. But he was not consistent!

 

[vinum coupe]

Just had another look at the stats

Incredibly, on only 41 occasions did he have 20+ disposals. And 13 of those were in 89.

 

[SJ]

Just had another look at the stats

Incredibly, on only 41 occasions did he have 20+ disposals. And 13 of those were in 89.

He was a flanker/forward though for most of his career. And this is in an era where possessions where probably worth 1.5 times of what they are today. How often would we expect Johnson to have 20 possessions?

 

[vinum coupe]

I don't want to argue stats and I shouldn't have started it !!

But if you look at them you can see how up and down he was.

Had the ability to get 25 kicks on a half forward flank one week and 8 the next.

 

[SJ]

I don't want to argue stats and I shouldn't have started it !!

But if you look at them you can see how up and down he was.

Had the ability to get 25 kicks on a half forward flank one week and 8 the next.

Or was it one week his role was to play up the field and the next week he was to stay closer to goal?

I guess it depends on how you define consistency.

 

[vinum coupe]

In 85 - 87 (or so) he was a winger / midfielder
Through to 91 he was a high forward flanker / winger.

(with the exception being when he started smashing a team they would move him closer to goal. ala vs richmond in 89 when he kicked 8 from the wing in the 1st half then went forward to kick another 6)

His stats from 92 on are reflective of always being closer to goal.

He was definitely a guy who had to be 'on' to dominate.
I distinctly remember the essendon game in 93 because i was not going to go.

A mate and I listened to the first 15 minutes on the radio and thought "shit, he is on" and drove into the G to make it by half time.

Lets not forget he was having the ball drilled down his throat at every opportunity. He was a magnet. That's got to help stats.

 

[you pick one]

I was at all of those games Bobby.
He was not a consistent footballer.

Your a hard marker on this one V.C take out 91 and his last year,and on only two occasions did he fail to either finish top three in our best and fairest or be picked in the all Australian team, being 1987 and 88 in those two years he kicked 53 and 82 goals respectively.

Give me that kind of inconsistence any day.

 

[vinum coupe]

Maybe I am !

 

[Vdubs]

Maybe I am !

You are, we all probably are.

There was a game against Crows in Adelaide, the day Blight got us to form a guard of honour for the Crows, exact details sketchy, we were beaten easily, Ablett got 9 or 10 out of 12 or so goals, NO BROWNLOW votes. I'm sure someone will correct me, but the gist is the expectation of him to do something was always there, and if he wasn't spectacular, he was underappreciated.

Back to the consistency thing, he was the most consistent forward I can recall we've ever had

 

[Partridge]

Unlike the Gastev bump which also ended his career a few years later!!!

Disagree. I don't think there was anything wrong with that either. Gastev dropped back in front of a leading forward. He should expect contact. Ablett didn't hit him with a fist, arm, elbow or anything like that, it was a bump.

I fully realise I'm the only supporter on the planet now who doesn't think players should have counselling when they break a nail, but in my view that's part of the game.

 

[Partridge]

You are, we all probably are.

There was a game against Crows in Adelaide, the day Blight got us to form a guard of honour for the Crows, exact details sketchy, we were beaten easily, Ablett got 9 or 10 out of 12 or so goals, NO BROWNLOW votes. I'm sure someone will correct me, but the gist is the expectation of him to do something was always there, and if he wasn't spectacular, he was underappreciated.

Back to the consistency thing, he was the most consistent forward I can recall we've ever had

Ah yes Malcolm the idiot. What a brilliant move that was.

Regarding Ablett, if he was inconsistent, what the hell were Brownless or Lindner?