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Sorry Gazza, a move back to Geelong won't repair your broken legacy

Roar Pro
28th August, 2017
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Gary Ablett is a constant injury concern. (AAP Image/Jason O'Brien)
Roar Pro
28th August, 2017
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2176 Reads

“A fresh new challenge” was how Gary Ablett described his move north to the football wasteland of the Gold Coast.

There is no doubting the unfathomable talent Gary Ablett displays on the footy field, he’s been the best midfielder of the modern game for a sustained period of time – but at the end of his career he will be remembered as an individual who made an incredibly poor decision.

Most Geelong supporters will remember when Ablett ran onto the Melbourne Cricket Ground to make his senior debut against Essendon. We all watched in anticipation and awe as a young man bearing the all too familiar Ablett surname would play on the big stage, at a club he grew up with.

Many watched on that night with a sense of pride to see the young man many had been keeping an eye on throughout his junior days and his games in the seconds had finally made the big time. As they say, the rest is history – and even the wildest optimist couldn’t predict just how good of a player Ablett Jr would turn out to be.

A far different player from his father, Ablett Jr was an out an out midfielder who read the game well and brought his teammates into the match. Ablett tended to flourish when his teammates were playing well and tended to grow a foot taller through the aptitude of teamwork.

Seemingly with the world at his feet and two premierships under his belt at Geelong, Ablett – alongside with his manager Liam Pickering – decided to explore the option of playing out his career for the new expansion club on the Gold Coast.

Throughout the 2010 season this became a weekly distraction for the club and looking back weighed heavily on all involved. There were times when you stood in the outer at Kardinia Park that season and whispers would spread like wildfire Ablett had finally put pen to paper to remain a Cat for life.

Without any confirmation or the tendency to continually check out smart phones back then, word of mouth was enough for the majority of Geelong supporters to grin from ear to ear thinking Ablett would stay home, despite the king’s ransom rumoured.

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Sadly this wasn’t to be and it was the AFL grinning from ear to ear announcing Ablett at the marquee signing for the new expansion club. The financial carrot was just too big for the star midfielder and whatever legacy he created at Geelong came to a thudding halt.

We will never truly know if it was the public battle with Mark Thompson than saw Ablett leave or the stupendous amount of money being thrown at him from AFL House.

The following year Geelong won the 2011 Premiership while Gold Coast languished at the bottom of the table. Without Ablett, Geelong were still a very good team, while we knew the Gold Coast experiment would take a significant amount of time with priority picks and multiple concessions thrown in.

Fast forward six more seasons and we are almost at the same juncture, Geelong have once again finished in finals contention while Gold Coast continue to be the whipping boys of the league. While being spoon fed by the league, the Gold Coast have continued to defy logic and continued to fail, despite the amount of talent that has arrived in Queensland.

Gary Ablett Gold Coast Suns AFL 2016

(AAP Image/Julian Smith)

While Ablett didn’t play in the final game of the season against Port Adelaide Gold Coast hit rock bottom only managing five scoring shots during the entire game against a rampant Port Adelaide. Ablett pulled out after failing a fitness test but speculation has increased he simply isn’t enjoying his footy and wants to return home to Geelong.

While this seems plausible in Dreamland I cannot see a feasible way Ablett makes a return home. There is no doubting his on-field ability but he doesn’t fit the current structure of culture at Geelong.

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Geelong has a proud culture of selfless acts, whether it be through on-field courage or key players getting together to discuss taking pay cuts to lessen salary cap restraints. Geelong has become one of the great destinations in the league through its playing culture and I can’t see Ablett fitting into that now after turning his back on the club in 2010.

Joel Selwood, Pat Dangerfield and Ablett has a romantic overture but could never work.

You cannot question his on-field talent but Ablett was never the right man to lead a new entity.

Once Ablett retires he will leave a great highlights package but his decision to choose Gold Coast over Geelong will always be his lasting legacy to footy and how he is remembered.

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