Abbott’s ruck show icing on the cake
GEELONG VFL coach Shane O’Bree lauded ruckman and birthday boy Ryan Abbott for his best-on-ground effort in yesterday’s 50-point win over North Ballarat.
The freshly-turned 26-year-old produced a clinical display in the ruck, amassing 43 hitouts and a goal for the victors in his best game in the blue and white hoops.
While the performance was against a winless North Ballarat, a side which also lacks the height of Geelong’s line-up, O’Bree paid credit to the 200cm bigman.
“He was against a couple of young ruckmen today but you’ve still got to beat them and show them the way that Ryan can play in the ruck and today he did,” O’Bree said.
“He rucked well, he dominated some of his hitouts to advantage. His follow-up work was a highlight, I thought he was aggressive, and his running; he’s finally using his athleticism now.”
Abbott’s dominance freed up Wylie Buzza to spend more time forward; the enigmatic tall was also busy with 18 touches, six marks and a goal. Timm House top scored, booting four goals in the 15.9 (99) to 6.13 (49) win.
O’Bree said Buzza continued to press his AFL case.
“He’s just got to keep knocking on the door; keep playing ruck, keep playing forward, even play high-forward a bit more too so if he gets an opportunity at AFL level they know he can play multiposition as a forward and ruckman,” he said.
O’Bree also tipped his hat to Jackson Thurlow, who drove from Simonds Stadium as a standby emergency before racking up 21 disposals after entering the game at quarter-time.
The win was Geelong’s fourth for the season, which keeps the finals flame lit. The Cats effectively sit two games out of the eight due to a poor percentage, but face Coburg and Collingwood in the next fortnight, two sides in a jog lam outside the eight.
The boys deserved it, kept things really simple today, better defensive methods, controlling the game,” O’Bree said.
“(We) kept them to three goals to halftime, six for the game; even though they had 21 scoring shots, I thought the boys really bought into the team defence today.”
O’Bree said the football his side played yesterday would give it a chance to play finals.
“I think we can win every week, it’s just a matter of putting it all together,” he said. “Always a chance if you win games. The number one priority for the VFL system is you want to develop the players but obviously you want to win games of football and play finals because that complements the AFL program.”