In what would give rivals nightmares, Gold Coast Suns coach Guy McKenna has dreamt up a way to make Gary Ablett more dangerous.
Suns captain Ablett has begun the 2012 AFL season with 40-plus touches in three straight games, sounding alarm bells for the Brisbane Lions ahead of Saturday night’s derby at the Gabba.
It’s a dream come true for McKenna – but he still fantasizes about the day his champion midfielder causes some real damage in the forward line.
McKenna said Ablett would only drift forward once he had trust in his midfield group – and believed that was sooner rather than later.
“I went to sleep thinking of that,” McKenna said on Friday.
“(Midfielders like) David Swallow, Dion Prestia we trust them in there to get into the arm wrestle but we know at some stage they are going to get pushed over.
“As a leader he (Ablett) feels he can’t leave the centre circle and I understand that totally.
“But when he becomes comfortable and can trust our boys, we can get him forward – and I don’t think that is too far off.
“He’s not a tall marking forward but he is going to be someone they are going to be very nervous about for sure.”
McKenna believed the key to Ablett’s 2012 form was simple – he is not on the field as much.
“When he came to us he averaged 94 per cent of game time at Geelong,” he said.
“Now Gaz is under 90 and I reckon that’s the thing.
“Dropping a few per cent, you are probably going to say ‘whoopie do’.
“(But) I said to him ‘you are playing less game time but having more possessions’.
“Because he’s playing less game time he is more energised to hit and find the ball when he needs to – he’s got that turn of speed.
“It’s been a battle (getting Ablett to cut game time) but he is finally warming to it.”
Not that McKenna was claiming to have moulded his champion midfielder into career best form – far from it.
“As far as his kicking ability, his vision and his clean hands – that’s Gaz,” McKenna said.
“That’s his professionalism. After the final siren he starts his recovery from that first minute on.
“You see what he does to get himself right to go again in the next round.
“I used to think back in the West Coast days that we were professional but he makes us look like novices.”
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