Ablett faces rough stuff for milestone
BRYCE Gibbs warned Gary Ablett in the opening minutes of last Saturday’s clash at Metricon Stadium that he was in for a rough day.
Ablett has heard such things before and reckons he didn’t pay too much attention until a Blues player ran past him and committed the crime of failing to elbow the Suns champ.
Gaz didn’t name the offender, or non offender in this case, but said that several other Carlton players in the vicinity saw the indiscretion and yelled at their teammate to turn around and go back and whack the champion.
I TRIED TO STAY CALM OUT THERE, BUT THERE WERE TIMES WHEN IT DID FRUSTRATE ME ... GARY ABLETT
There is perhaps no greater tribute to Ablett that such a concerted team effort was made to curb his influence in his 299th AFL game – a stage of even the greatest players’ careers where they are usually playing a role across half-back or in the forward fifty and not towing around a tagger all afternoon.
Ablett wore compression bandages on both calves and was sporting a black eye when he fronted the media yesterday after Blues tagger Ed Curnow and his mates worked him over relentlessly in Carlton’s 10 point win. He suspects it will probably happen again on Sunday when he runs out for his 300th against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium.
“There is no doubt I pulled up sore this week,’’ he said.
“I knew early in the game that their focus was to try to limit my impact and they had their tactics for doing that.
“But that’s all part of the game, I tried to stay calm out there, but there were times when it did frustrate me.
“But it is all part of being a consistent player, if you start playing food football it happens to a lot of great players in the game,
“It’s a challenge and I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens again this week, but I’m looking forward to that.’’
The 33-year-old would be relieved that plans to rest David Swallow have now been shelved after the injury to Michael Barlow and suspension to Matt Rosa.
Football manager Marcus Ashcroft said yesterday Swallow had pulled up well from the Carlton game and would take his place in the side.
Jarrod Harbow who returns from a two week club ban for a drink driving indiscretion and Touk Miller are the likely replacements. Ablett has also warned this week the Suns will have their own target.
Last week they barely laid a finger on Gibbs as he went on to produce one of the great individual games gathering 45 touches and booting two clutch goals in the final quarter.
“We did that earlier in the season and went away from it a little bit, I’m not 100 per cent sure why,’’ he said.
”But we will target a player for them and make sure they have a tough day.’’