Ablett dismisses hamstring concerns
THE manager of star Geelong recruit Gary Ablett (pictured) says he expects the veteran midfielder to be fit and firing for the Cats’ Round 1 clash with Melbourne.
It remains a possibility that Ablett will take on Essendon in Geelong’s second JLT Series clash in Colac on Sunday week, but after scans confirmed the 33-year-old had suffered a minor hamstring strain the club will be cautious about his return.
Ablett himself was upbeat yesterday, with the two-time Brownlow medallist confident he will be ready for Round 1 and possibly the second JLT series pre-season game in Colac on March 11.
The Cats have stressed that Ablett was never going to play in their opening preseason game this Saturday.
Geelong and Ablett also had been rapt about his preseason training until the injury. “You see that all the time in pre-season,” Ablett said yesterday.
“We’re training pretty hard at the moment, we had three solid sessions in the space of a week and I pulled up a little bit tight in the hammy.
“But it’s fine. We’ve had a scan, it’s only very low grade.”
Earlier on Tuesday, his manager Liam Pickering said Ablett’s goal remained to play every regular-season game for the Cats this season.
And the star utility is confident his body will hold up, despite a succession of injury problems in his past few seasons at Gold Coast.
“I’ve had little niggling injuries like this throughout my whole career, but as I’ve got older they seem to be talked about a lot more,” Ablett said.
“As I said, that’s all part of pre-season. We’re training ourselves pretty hard, we’re taking our bodies to the edge to try and get our legs conditioned. “I’m not concerned at all.” Pickering told SEN Breakfast Ablett was “trying to play in the game against Essendon in JLT 2, which was always the plan, but he isn’t going to be silly about it.”
“If he thinks it’s a risk, he won’t play (that game) so he will play Round 1. But he will be fine.”
Ablett has starred in match simulation drills over summer and has put in a large body of work throughout pre-season.
He spoke to the Geelong Advertiser after the incident at training last week and revealed his body was “feeling great”, with Pickering saying Ablett still believed he could play 22 home-and-away games this year.