By Ben Collins
GOLD Coast coach Guy McKenna has revealed he has spoken to skipper Gary Ablett about his controversial tweet but insists the superstar has not been reprimanded.
During the Fremantle-Carlton game on Friday night, Ablett became so frustrated by the tactics of Fremantle tagger Ryan Crowley on Blues captain Chris Judd that he tweeted: "Crowley is a joke. Play the ball not the man! That's why Lingy was such a great player he ran both ways! #givejuddafreekick."
The tweet has caused a flood of feedback, mostly negative towards Ablett, who many believe overstepped the mark.
As fate would have it, the Suns host Fremantle at Metricon Stadium next Saturday, and if Ablett overcomes a knee injury, he is likely to be followed by Crowley.
McKenna understood Ablett's Twitter offering would provide Freo counterpart Ross Lyon with ample ammunition to motivate his chief stopper.
"If [Ablett] plays next week, [and] I know Ross reasonably well, but I reckon that Ryan Crowley might line up against him," McKenna said.
McKenna admitted to being taken aback by Ablett's tweet.
"I thought he could have actually tweeted about the place where we're staying … and how good the food was last night," he said. "I wasn't expecting that sort of tweet.
"Look, I've spoken to Gaz about it and he understands what he's done.
"But we're in the modern world and technology. Would we prefer it not to happen? Of course we would. But people have to be people. We can't keep [them] living in a cocoon all the time. [It's] hard to control, hard to stop."
McKenna revealed he would discuss the matter with the club's football operations manager Marcus Ashcroft, but said Ablett would not be punished.
"He tweets all the time [and] the players tweet all sorts of things. Trent McKenzie's tweeted things as well," he said, referring to McKenzie expressing his support, via Twitter, of Matthew Scarlett's punch on Fremantle goalsneak Hayden Ballantyne in round one.
"It's happened [and] it's going to continue to happen. You don't want to incite a riot or hurt anyone's feelings, and I don’t think [Ablett] has quite done that."
McKenna was proud of his side's efforts in its 34-point loss to North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night, particularly given injuries to key players.
"With their captain looking on, and Michael Rischitelli [out and] Jarrod Harbrow with his arm in a sling, I just think the boys as a young group took a step forward today," he said.
"I just thought it was a great opportunity for the boys to stand up [and] their effort today was super."
One youngster to stand up was Dion Prestia, who nullified Roos playmaker Daniel Wells.
"I learned that we can play [good] footy without a captain and a lot of other senior players in the team. We went into the game with a focus that we had a good opportunity, all the young midfielders, to step up," he said.
The Suns produced their best-ever quarter with 7.3 in the second term to take a one-point lead at half-time, but McKenna felt the Roos took their game to another level in the third term.
"Their contested footy went up a bit in that quarter and they started to hunt us a bit," he said.
"For a young side, we just coughed it up a bit at bad moments and they certainly took full toll. I don’t think it was a want of effort or a want of structure, that's for sure."
