Ablett's Brownlow prospects

GARY Ablett is the one of those rare players who just demands attention.

His dazzling recent form has caught the eye of the Herald Sun and The Age, both papers asking on Tuesday whether the Gold Coast captain could win this year's Brownlow Medal despite playing for 2011's likely wooden spooner. 

Both papers noted that a player from the competition's bottom-placed team has won the Brownlow just twice in its 87-season history - Fitzroy's Dinny Ryan in 1936 and Hawthorn's Col Austen in 1949.
 
But Herald Sun chief football writer Mike Sheahan noted players outside the top teams had a better Brownlow strike-rate in the medal's early counts. From 1924-41, the medal was won 14 times by players whose sides finished outside the finals (top four), but in the past 18 years just seven players from teams outside the top four have won.

Sheahan said the dilemma for umpires when judging Ablett's performances in losing teams this year - the Suns have won just two games - would be choosing between the player(s) most instrumental to their side's win and Ablett's individual brilliance.

Sheahan said if the Brownlow was truly a medal for the AFL's "fairest and best player" Ablett should be challenging Carlton skipper Chris Judd as this year's favourite.

Current Gold Coast and former Geelong assistant coach Ken Hinkley told Sheahan that Ablett had, at least, matched his 2009 Brownlow form this year.

The Age's Jon Pierik spoke with former umpire Derek Humphery-Smith, three-time Brownlow medallist Bob Skilton and former Richmond great Matthew Richardson in an attempt to gauge Ablett's Brownlow chances.

Humphery-Smith told Pierik that Ablett faced an uphill battle to poll well, especially in games where the Suns were thrashed. Humphery-Smith said Ablett was unlikely to have many three-vote games and would most often get "a sympathy vote for a great effort in a terrible losing margin".

Richardson agreed with Humphery-Smith, saying Ablett would win plenty of two votes but few three votes.

However, Skilton, who won his medals playing for a lowly South Melbourne team, said Ablett remained firmly in the mix for this year's Medal. Skilton said Ablett had the advantage of not having to 'share' votes with star teammates, as Collingwood's Dane Swan had to do with teammate Scott Pendlebury last year, and Judd may have to do with Marc Murphy this year.

Ablett's performances this season for the Suns have already silenced the doubters who argued he would be a lesser player without Geelong's stellar midfield as his support cast. Another Brownlow win would just be an added bonus.

Thomas' goalkicking demons

Much has been made of Lindsay Thomas' struggles to convert in front of goal this year. In his worst stretch, from rounds two to six, the North Melbourne small forward kicked 14 straight behinds.

Thomas and his coach Brad Scott have regularly spoken of the hard work he has been putting in on the training track to overcome his chronic inaccuracy. Scott has also said regularly that Thomas has no problem kicking straight in those training sessions.

Little doubt, North and Thomas hoped he had turned the corner when he converted a testing set shot against Gold Coast in round 12. It was enough to bring a smile to Scott's face in the coach's box.

Admittedly, Scott's pleasure was born more of North football manager Donald McDonald's misguided attempt to claim credit for tipping Thomas would kick truly - McDonald had made the same prediction regularly throughout Thomas' lean streak, Scott said after the match - but we sensed at the time Thomas had broken through a mental barrier. That was reinforced a week later when Thomas kicked 4.1 against Essendon.

However, Thomas' demons resurfaced at the worst possible time last Sunday against St Kilda. With his team down by 10 points with two-and-a-half minutes left in the game, he pulled a 40m set shot so savagely it went out of bounds on the full.

The Age's Michael Gleeson revealed on Tuesday that Thomas' yearly return of 17.28 (a 37.8 per cent conversion rate) is the worst of the competition's top 50 goalkickers, and his ability to convert set shots (33.3 per cent) is the equal-second lowest of that group (Essendon's David Zaharakis is the worst).

Gleeson said Thomas had also missed the target altogether with 10 shots this year (three out of bounds on the full and seven that have fallen short).

North forward coach Brett Allison told Gleeson he felt Thomas had overcome his goalkicking demons of earlier this year and described Sunday's game as a "relapse".

Allison said Thomas was continuing to put in the hard work on the training track - he has a minimum of 150 set shots at training every week - but seemed to have deviated from his goalkicking routine with his late set shot against the Saints.

Allison also said Thomas' problems seemed to be mental rather than physical.  

"In terms of his technique, he is pretty solid," Allison said.

"It is what he talks himself into or what gets into his head when he approaches on game day … probably a factor in his thinking is thinking of the ramifications of what happens if he misses."

Like Richmond spearhead Jack Riewoldt, Allison said Thomas had listened to recorded crowd noise through a MP3 player several weeks ago to simulate match conditions when taking set shots at training.

It's hard to watch any player go through such a tortuous time in front of the big sticks. We hope Thomas can turn things around soon.

Power switch off in time-on

Advertiser chief football writer Michelangelo Rucci says Port Adelaide "needs another head doctor".

Rucci said while the Power had now admitted to lingering mental scars from their record 2007 Grand Final defeat, they now had a new mental problem - a weakness in time-on periods.

Rucci said previous concerns about Port's fitness levels did not seem at play given the Power were just as likely to switch off in the time-on periods in the first quarter as they were in the last.

Midfielder Hamish Hartlett confirmed Rucci's diagnosis.

"It has to do with the concentration levels of the group. We showed (against the Brisbane Lions) we were unable to execute certain structures and skills at crucial times of the game," Hartlett said.

Rucci said Port's mental fragility would make coach Matthew Primus' job of cleaning out the club's playing list at the end of the year even more challenging.


In short

Ruckmen Hamish McIntosh remains a key part of North Melbourne's long-term plans despite recent speculation he will be in demand during this season's trade period, the Herald Sun reports. McIntosh has only recently returned to the field via the VFL after pre-season Achilles tendon surgery, but North football manager Donald McDonald said McIntosh could form one of the competition's best ruck combinations with Todd Goldstein. McDonald said both McIntosh and Goldstein were versatile enough to play in the same team despite the fact some other teams have played only one genuine ruckmen this year because of the substitute rule.

Highly rated West Australian youngster Stephen Coniglio will make his decision between football and cricket after the NAB AFL Under-18 Championships finish in Melbourne on Wednesday, The Age reports. Coniglio, a midfielder who has captained the West Australian team in the championships, said he would choose the sport he enjoyed most and saw the most opportunities in, rather than the one he thought would be most lucrative.

Richmond chief executive Brendon Gale told SEN radio the wage claim made by the AFL Players' Association in the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations could hurt the game's other stakeholders, including the clubs. "(The AFL has) got to meet the needs of all stakeholders and I think the claim as presented to me really would compromise the ability of other significant stakeholders to go forward," Gale said. As the immediate past AFLPA chief executive, Gale negotiated the 2007-11 CBA. 

AFL player agents will be briefed on Tuesday on the AFL's proposal to extend its betting ban to them, the Herald Sun reports. The League currently bans players and club officials from betting on AFL games and its football operations manager Adrian Anderson said extending the ban to player agents seemed the "logical next step". "Law enforcement agencies and international experience tells us that it is a risk factor we should seek to address," Anderson said.

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL