It is the time of the season for reflection on the recent past and rumination concerning the future, as some of the player news coming from the AFL demonstrates.
There is Allen Christensen, the off contract Brisbane Lions forward who suffered from his club’s recent shock loss to GWS in the second round of the 2019 AFL finals.
He kicked what appeared to be the winning goal agasint GWS, only to see it unravel moments later when the Giant’s Brent Daniels had the Sherrin bunce properly, allowing him to scoot down the field and book a preliminary final berth with Collingwood.
Brisbane’s 2019 season was inspiring, but they will have to take it with a grain of salt, as rising from 15th to 2nd in 2019 will result in their being handed a much stiffer fixture for 2023.
Veteran Daniel Wells has announced his retirement from football, effective immediately, but he has been hampered for the past three years and made only one appearance for the Pies in 2019 after coming over from North Melbourne following the 2016 AFL season.
He leaves the game with 258 appearances, 243 with North Melbourne. His 2016 season was productive and Collingwood may have thought they were getting something, but Wells never really measured up to his production with the Roos.
Gary Ablett maintains that he has yet to make a decision regarding his future plans, but he has been hunting form this season, although it must be said that Ablett had a good season by most measures, but his high expectations went unmet this year and he was mostly ineffective in his club’s finals loss to Collingwood and the win over West Coast.
He was closely marked in both games and while in years past, the tactic could have proved disastrous for the opposition, but is now an effective way to keep a primary Geelong threat in check.
Like other footballers who have found the clock to be relentless, Ablett transitioned from midfield to forward and if the Cats are to enjoy a victory over Collingwood, Ablett had better improve his goal kicking.
