Wangaratta star Abraham Ankers' honest assessment of his form

Ankers starred in last week's win over Albury, but didn't hold back when quizzed on his form this year.

"It's been pretty crappy to be honest," he replied.

"I've started off slow and been patchy, in and out of quarters and in and out of games, I'm not at the standard I should be."

For the second successive year, the brilliant midfielder travels from his base in Alice Springs, but he refused to use that as an excuse and can't pinpoint why he's not in the form that took to him to fourth in last year's Morris Medal, just three votes behind winning team-mate Callum Moore.

"I don't know, the team has a bit of a different dynamic, I know we've got a lot of the same players, we're playing in roles and we're still adjusting to it," he reasoned.

"I don't think we've played our best footy yet, I certainly haven't."

Given Wangaratta is almost certain to finish with the minor premiership and has won half its games by three figures, Ankers' thoughts will worry all opponents over the final two months of the competition.

The Northern Territory ace had a team-high 29 touches against Albury, equalling Albury co-coach Anthony Miles' 11 contested possessions.

Ankers produced a piece of wizardry late in the first quarter where he raced away from Michael Duncan, one of the league's quickest defenders, and delivered a majestic 40m pass to a running Brad Melville, who converted the opportunity from around 20m.

"I'm looking forward to improving my form for the rest of the season, build a bit more consistency and play my role better, that's my challenge in the next month before finals."

IN OTHER NEWS:

The Pies have the first part of the split round off on Saturday and return away against a rejuvenated Myrtleford next Saturday.

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