Chris Scott says he expects Gary Ablett to be ‘a role player’ for the Cats in 2019

Chris Scott has tempered expectations on Gary Ablett’s much-heralded move to attack, with the Cats coach preparing to meet a “pretty complete” Collingwood team on Friday night at the MCG.

Geelong coach Chris Scott experts Gary Ablett to be a role player in 2019. Picture: Getty Images

Geelong coach Chris Scott has tempered expectations on Gary Ablett’s much-heralded move to attack this year, saying he expects the dual Brownlow Medallist to be “a role player” for the Cats in 2019 who won’t play every game.

Ablett, who turns 35 in May, is about to enter the final year of his current deal with the Cats, with Scott saying he can still be an important contributor for the club.

But as the Cats prepare to take on Collingwood in Friday night’s Round 1 clash, Scott said Ablett won’t be expected to carry the load as he has in the past.

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“We are still very confident he has got a big part to play for us, but I don’t think we should be rating Geelong’s chances based on how well Gary can play as an individual,” Scott said.

“He is (almost) 35, he has been a fantastic player, but there aren’t many 35-year-olds playing better footy than they were at 30, much less 27.

“It is very unlikely he is going to play every game for us, and he is going to be a bit more of a role player for us rather than someone that we build our whole game plan around.

“I would contend that was the situation for the most part of last year, even though we didn’t communicate it for various reasons.”

Gary Ablett and Chris Scott celebrate a win last year. Picture: Getty Images

Scott said Ablett was very comfortable with the role he will be playing this year, saying he was realistic that a positional switch out of the midfield would provide him with the best opportunity to play on beyond the end of this season.

“I am certain with the attributes he has got and the way he prepares himself that he can be a really valuable member of the team,” he said. “But we won’t need Gary Ablett to have a career-best season for us to be a pretty good team next season.

“I get the sense he would like to play for as long as possible, and the only way for him to do that at our club is for him to have really good clarity in his role, and really good clarity on how he is going to fit within the long-term planning of the team.

“When I am talking about longer term, I am really only talking about this season.”

Ablett returned to Geelong in a blaze of publicity after seven seasons with Gold Coast, with the hype surrounding his midfield alignment with Cats superstars Patrick Dangerfield and Joel Selwood.

He managed 19 games, but during the pre-season he floated a more permanent move to the forward line for 2019.

That will require a different assessment of his game externally, says Scott, who says it won’t necessarily come down to disposals and goals kicked.

“My view is that Gary’s game from the outside has been assessed too much on numbers,” he said.

“The statistical analysis of his game this year is going to be really difficult.

“We think he is going to be a dangerous player in the contest for us. We’d like him to get on the scoreboard as much as possible, but more importantly than those things, we would like him to work cohesively with the other guys down there.”

Gary Ablett played forward in the JLT Series. Picture: Michael Klein

MEANWHILE, Scott said his team would confront a “pretty complete” Collingwood team on Friday night at the MCG, but the Cats coach is confident the likely additions of some new faces and game style tweaks will stand his team in good stead.

The Cats are yet to settle on a starting line-up to take on the Magpies, but former Bulldog Luke Dahlhaus and ex-Swan Gary Rohan are certain to play.

He admitted it would be a “brave” coaching panel to leave out first-round draft pick Jordan Clark, who was so impressive during the JLT Series, while Tom Atkins and Charlie Constable are also in the mix.

“There’s a very, very strong likelihood that the team that played our last game last year will be quite different to the team that takes on Collingwood,” Scott said.

“It’s been a pretty significant period of transition for us and it’s still exciting that we think — with some optimism — that if we get it together we can compete with good sides. Clearly, Collingwood are one of those.”

Scott said on face value the Magpies looked even stronger in personnel this year, saying: “I don’t want to build them up too much, but they’re pretty complete now.”

Young Cat Jordan Clark is poised to make his AFL debut. Pic: Michael Klein

“They’ve had a long period to develop this list and they have a lot of good talent there.

“At the very least, you look at (them) and you think there are not obvious holes in their makeup.”

He ruled out Zach Tuohy (knee) for Round 1, but said Esava Ratugolea (dislocated finger) was a certain starter against the Magpies.

“He (Tuohy) thinks he could (play) — I guess if he held a gun to my head I think he could too, but we just don’t take those risks at this time of year,” Scott said.

He stressed Collingwood’s gluttony of midfield options would generate some “interesting discussion” at match committee for both sides.

“One of the problems with having a midfield that’s stacked with talent is working out where the — and I use this term respectfully — role players fit in,” he said.

“To get (Levi) Greenwood in there onto (Joel) Selwood, they need to move someone to the outside.

“It’s more their problems than ours ... the problem we have, if we choose to play a run-with player, is whether we go to (Scott) Pendlebury or (Dayne) Beams or (Adam) Treloar or (Steele) Sidebottom (and) there are a few others in there as well.”