Cooney says knee not perfect, but better

Updated February 10, 2012 11:36:04

Western Bulldogs midfield star Adam Cooney admits his troublesome right knee will never be 100 per cent, but he still believes he can play a key role for the AFL club.

The 2008 Brownlow Medallist had an inconsistent season last year, as soreness stemming from the knee cap fracture he sustained in 2008 meant he was unable to sustain his best form.

Off-season surgery has helped, but the 26-year-old said he was not expecting to go out and dominate matches on a weekly basis.

"It's probably not going to be 100 per cent," he told reporters on Friday.

"In saying that, what I had done in the off-season has taken a little bit of the pressure off the knee cap, it seems to have worked pretty well.

"It's just a management thing.

"I'm not the only guy who's played with injuries, a lot of guys have done it in the past."

Cooney said he would have to assess how he was feeling throughout the season to determine how many matches he played and how much of each he spent in the midfield.

He acknowledged his frustrations last season had a negative effect on his mood, which affected his team-mates.

But he said new coach Brendan McCartney had assured him that as long as he was contributing, the Dogs did not need him to be best afield every week.

"I don't think I'm worried about it," Cooney said.

"I've had a lot of chats with Macca.

"I know what to expect from him and he knows what to expect from me.

"As long as I'm playing my role for the team, I'm going to be happy with that and he's going to be happy with that."

Cooney said he did not expect to play in the opening round of the preseason competition, but hoped to play at least two pre-season games to build match fitness for the start of the home -and-away season.

AAP

Tags: australian-football-league, sport, footscray-3011, vic, australia

First posted February 10, 2012 11:36:04

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Two Sports Are Better Than One - Why Young Athletes Should Try New Sports

Tigers expecting better showing

Updated July 8, 2011 15:39:00

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick is confident his players will not be scarred by their massive loss to Carlton last weekend and are ready to bounce back to their best against Essendon on Saturday night.

Hardwick was true to his word following the 103-point defeat to the Blues at the MCG, binning the post-match review with his team as promised and encouraging all at the club to put it out of their minds.

He believes his players are ready to respond, describing the mood at training this week as upbeat ahead of Saturday night's MCG encounter.

"The one thing I would say about our group is they're very vibrant," Hardwick said.

"You wouldn't know we've come off a resounding loss, and that's something we try to pride ourselves on.

"We try to take away the emotion of the ups and downs of our season.

"We understand where we're at, but we certainly know where we're going. There's going to be bumps along the way, and last week was one of those."

The Tigers have lost ruckman Andrew Browne with a hip injury, with Tyrone Vickery to shoulder the ruck load and key position duo Ben Griffiths and Jayden Post to pinch-hit.

Meanwhile, the Bombers expect the Tigers to be breathing fire on Saturday night.

The Bombers are trying to keep a lid on celebrations after upsetting Geelong last weekend.

They will also have to contend with an ordinary record at the MCG and a poor recent record against the Tigers.

And they are smarting from their round-nine loss to the Tigers, which started a four-match slump for the high-flying side.

Bombers' coach James Hird says he is anxious the players atone for their performance earlier in the season and does not believe they will still be carried away with their defeat of the previously-unbeaten Cats.

"I hope not," he said.

"We've just basically trained hard this week and prepared for Richmond who caused us a lot of troubles last time and beat us quite convincingly.

"It's a very important game for both teams but we're very keen to play Richmond again and give a much better account of ourselves than we did last time."

Hird feels he has moved to counter the Bombers' difficulty in the past with the wide open spaces of the MCG.

"The team this week has got a lot more running power than we've had in the past," he said.

"You need a good spread of inside players and guys who can run and create at the MCG - that's why it's such a great ground, because it's got something for everyone.

"The MCG is probably the hardest ground to defend in the AFL because of its width, which makes it hard to cover all spaces."

Despite the Bombers' dramatic return to form, he refuses to speculate on the finals.

"It's not something we've been thinking about," Hird said.

"The way the guys played at the weekend was a real positive for our supporters and an affirmation of what we're doing but it's not the be-all and the end-all of what we're doing.

"If finals come along, they do - we're six-and-a-half wins and nine games to go so anything can happen."

- AAP

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, richmond-3121

First posted July 8, 2011 15:38:00

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Dad's still better than me: Ablett Jnr

Updated June 1, 2011 16:10:00

The comparisons between the stellar AFL careers of Gary Ablett Snr and Gary Ablett Jnr will be debated for many years.

Former Geelong coach and now Gold Coast Suns' board member Malcolm Blight, who was in charge at the Cats when the elder statesman was in full flight, is the latest to hold the two stars up to the light.

Blight says Ablett Jnr, who runs out on Saturday against West Coast for his 200th AFL appearance, is the superior footballer.

Not so insists the man himself.

The Suns' skipper rated his father and boyhood idol as the greatest to have played the game.

"I still rate my dad the best player of all time," Ablett Jnr said.

"It's very hard to compare us as players.

"I've played a lot more in the midfield. He took a lot more hangers and kicked a lot more goals.

"Until someone special comes along, I don't think it's going to change."

The Brownlow medallist and dual premiership player did make one concession about his father, best remembered for some of the greatest individual on-field efforts during a 248-game career which yielded 1030 goals.

"The only one thing I do better than him is handball," Ablett said with a smile.

"He used to always say to me 'mate, why would you bother handballing when the goals are in front of you?'"

Being compared to his father - as Blight did in News Limited newspapers on Wednesday - has been as much a part of Ablett Jnr's career as lacing up his boots each weekend.

From the time he stepped out for his first match against Essendon in round one in 2002, he has had to deal with it.

And any suggestions that he was only drafted back in 2001 because of his famous name had long been deemed absurd.

"There was a lot of people saying the reason I got drafted was because of my name," he said.

"I wanted to prove those people wrong.

"I moved on from that pretty quickly and, hopefully, I've made a name of myself now.

"I enjoyed that challenge a lot."

Not only has Ablett Jnr proved he is a different type of player on the field, he is far more media friendly than his interview-shy dad.

At Kurrawa surf club at Broadbeach on a chilly and wet Wednesday morning, Ablett engaged the media like his father never did.

Yet it was not always like that.

When he arrived on the scene a decade ago, many thought he brought with him his father's reclusive nature and disdain for the media and public speaking.

But there was a reason for his silence and it had little to do with being an Ablett family trait.

"I did for the first couple of years (find it annoying being compared), and it's probably the reason I didn't do a lot of media and didn't take the number five number (the same number his father wore to fame) down at Geelong," Ablett Jnr said.

-AAP

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, qld, carrara-4211, vic, geelong-3220

First posted June 1, 2011 15:06:00

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