Brown says Gazza ‘playing safe’
back next week, I’m confident of that.”
Asked about Ablett, Scott did not want to individualise. But admitted some of the club’s senior players needed to work through their performances.
“I didn’t think he (Ablett) played very well, but we could work through the list (of others who also hadn’t played well),” Scott said.
“Having said that, I wasn’t looking at us thinking we just gave up. (But) I think they (some of the senior players) have got to stand up and acknowledge they didn’t play well. You won’t get any argument from them, and you won’t get any argument from me, or the coaching group. We just collectively had a very bad day.” FORMER AFL star Nathan Brown believes Gary Ablett “played really safe” in Saturday’s loss to Essendon, suggesting the Geelong great protected himself from injury.
Ablett had 17 disposals, eight contested possessions, one clearance and one tackle in the 34-point shock loss, his second lowest disposal count in more than two seasons.
Brown said Ablett was a shadow of his best, accusing the 34-year-old of avoiding the hard ball.
“He’s been OK this year but I felt yesterday he played really safe,” Brown said on the Sunday Footy Show.
“He’s a very good contested footy player, Gary Ablett, but gee he went around the edges yesterday and looked like a player that was either injured or a little bit sore.
“The very best Ablett is getting the footy in the middle, palming off, really putting his head over the footy. I didn’t see that yesterday.
“I felt he was sore. I felt that he played a game where he didn’t want to get hurt yesterday.”
When asked if he was questioning Ablett’s courage, Brown said it was Ablett’s intent that was of more concern.
“I’m saying he played a game that was probably beneath him in his standards, where normally he’s a very good contested footy (player), yesterday I thought he skirted around the edges,” Brown said.
“I’m questioning his intent on the ball, only yesterday.”