Gary Ablett Jnr is a superior footballer to his father Ablett Snr: Malcolm Blight

[bulldogtragic]

I think he is better than his father.

Ditto. I've never seen a player play to this level for such a long period, and he thinks he could have 4 or 5 seasons in him!

[SonofScray]

He is better than his dad. Not as exciting, but you can't deny his supreme performances consistently over a long time now.

[GVGjr]

He is better than his dad. Not as exciting, but you can't deny his supreme performances consistently over a long time now.

I agree. Sure Gary Snr could take an exciting grab and really change a game within a few minutes but Junior has been at such a high level for such a long period he is by far the better performer in my opinion.

[westdog54]

I don't know what else Gary has to do to be more widely regarded as better than his father?

Surely the door has been slammed shut on any debate on this question?

[1eyedog]

I think all Jnr has to do now is retire. We seem to struggle to judge a player's true worth until after they have stopped playing the game.

[wimberga]

Surely the door has been slammed shut on any debate on this question?

I never saw much of Ablett Snr but for me, I just can't put anyone in the same class as Jnr. So he's been number 1 for a few years for me, but I'm not sure that the wider populace 100% agrees

[Twodogs]

Just another lazy 40+ touches (15 contested) and 2 goals straight.

Freak. Serious freak.

Speaking of him being a freak, is that a bad thing to call people nowadays?

The reason I ask is few years ago my son (who was then in primary school) asked me what Senior was like as a player. I said he was just a freak. Twodogs jr looked at me and said "that's not a very nice thing to call someone dad"

[bulldogtragic]

Speaking of him being a freak, is that a bad thing to call people nowadays?

The reason I ask is few years ago my son (who was then in primary school) asked me what Senior was like as a player. I said he was just a freak. Twodogs jr looked at me and said "that's not a very nice thing to call someone dad"

Hadn't thought of it like that, from that I'm assuming it's a young persons word to denigrate someone else. Not having kids I'm out of the loop. I got in trouble for calling someone a bastard a few years back, on this issue but reversed. I think it would be ok if we described them as 'freakish' rather than 'freak' wouldn't it?

[Twodogs]

Reading back over this reinforces to me what a tragedy Ted Whitten junior's knee injurys were.


I'm not saying he was as good as GAJ but it's a huge shame that we never got to see him play at his best. He would have been 28 and at his peak in 1985 and may have been the difference to us bowing out in he prelim and making a Grand Final.

I haven't seen many better passes of the footy than TWJ. As soon as he got the ball Kelvin Templeton would start to lead and 9 times out of 10 he'd hit him on the chest. KT might have been gone by '85 but I reckon that Simon Beasley would have been just as happy to be fed by Ted Whitten Jr's bullet passes. The Pieman kicked 115 goals in 1985, if Jr had been in the team he could easily had added 20 or 30 goals to that tally.

[westdog54]

Hadn't thought of it like that, from that I'm assuming it's a young persons word to denigrate someone else. Not having kids I'm out of the loop. I got in trouble for calling someone a bastard a few years back, on this issue but reversed. I think it would be ok if we described them as 'freakish' rather than 'freak' wouldn't it?

One of my favourite scenes from the West Wing involves an exchange between Rob Lowe's character (speechwriter Sam Seaborn), and a political advisor.

Listen to the speech, then watch the exchange at the end. Manages to insult him and compliment him at the same time.

[DragzLS1]

I have had this argument time and time again. Footy was different when Gary senior was playing, none of the legends would keep up for more then half a game at this pace let alone be as dominant as they were.

Gary Junior is better then his father, hands down!

[bulldogtragic]

One of my favourite scenes from the West Wing involves an exchange between Rob Lowe's character (speechwriter Sam Seaborn), and a political advisor.

Listen to the speech, then watch the exchange at the end. Manages to insult him and compliment him at the same time.

Seriously fantastic show, I never thought it was as highly regarded in Australia as it should have been.

[Twodogs]

Hadn't thought of it like that, from that I'm assuming it's a young persons word to denigrate someone else. Not having kids I'm out of the loop. I got in trouble for calling someone a bastard a few years back, on this issue but reversed. I think it would be ok if we described them as 'freakish' rather than 'freak' wouldn't it?

He looked genuinely shocked when I said it. It's become a perjorative term. Appararntly.

[bulldogtragic]

38 touches and 3 goals again. If the modern day of tagging, how does he keep doing it week in, week out. If there's a better player ever, then they were spectularly brilliant, and brilliantly consistent at being spectacular. I still think my idea of offering a 150 game deal at retirement (just on the team sheets) and coaching job for life to get the Ablett Jnr Jnr's father/son is a good idea.

[bornadog]

Surely one of the greatest footballers of all time.