Gary Ablett Jr on the Docker who lifted him to another level

Dual Brownlow medallist Gary Ablett Jnr copped A LOT of taggers over his adorned 350-game profession, however there’s one Fremantle Docker that stands out above all.

The AFL nice stopped into 7’s Front Bar on Wednesday evening to offer perception on his outstanding achievements throughout two golf equipment – Geelong and Gold Coast, which included two premierships, eight All-Australian choices and two Brownlows.

Reflecting on the opposition gamers that got run-with jobs on the champion midfielder-forward, one instantly got here to thoughts for “The Little Master”.

“I’d love to share a story about Ryan Crowley,” Ablett mentioned.

“He was a very unique character. A guy that I’ve got a lot of respect for. But I can still remember the first time we matched up on each other.

“I can still remember (former Geelong coach) Mark Thompson coming to me during the week and saying: ‘Gary, I think you’re going to get Ryan Crowley this week, it’s important that you do your homework’.

“I watched a few hours of tape, figured out his strengths and weaknesses, went into the game and sure enough, he came to me at the first centre bounce.”

The ball went out of bounds about quarter-hour into the competition between Geelong and Fremantle when he was caught off-guard by Crowley, who performed 188 video games for the Dockers.

“In my peripheral (vision) I could see him standing about two or three metres away from me,” Ablett mentioned.

“I thought ‘OK, this is interesting’. Normally, he’s right up on me; he’s hitting me, he’s pinching me, doing everything he can to put me off the game.

“So I turned and looked at him and he had this big smile on his face. And he went on to start telling me that I was the greatest player in the game, it’s an honour to play on me, there’s no way he was going to be able to keep up with me.

“And I thought ‘this Ryan Crowley actually isn’t too bad!’”

As the competition continued, Ablett mentioned it was about quarter-hour into the second time period when the ball went out of bounds once more.

“Same thing, in my peripheral, I could see him standing about three metres away,’ he said.

“And I turn and had a look again and he had this angry look on his face and I thought ‘OK, I don’t know what I’ve done here’.

“He then went on to tell me that I was the biggest cheat in the game… and I figured out pretty quickly that was actually a tactic of his.”

The 39-year-old beamed as he shared the story, clearly keen on the encounter. He admits Crowley’s strategy did put him off.

“I think it worked for him in that game, we got beaten and I only touched the ball about 15 times,” he mentioned.

“But from then on I always looked forward to the battles and he was someone who made me a better player.”