Great expectations make Ablett a Cat for one final season
THE quest for a third AFL premiership will have Gary Ablett in a Geelong jumper for a 19th and final AFL season.
“I believe I can still meet and, to an extent, exceed my own expectations, and it is for that reason I have agreed to terms with Geelong and penned a new deal to extend my career for a 19th season,” Ablett said in a statement yesterday. “I have no doubt that as a team we’re capable of winning the premiership next year, which is why I’ve decided to go around again.”
Ablett also spoke of the hurt of losing the preliminary final to premier Richmond. Since their 2011 premiership, the Cats have lost three preliminary finals.
“I’ve got no doubt the pain of losing that preliminary final will continue to burn over the summer, and so it should,” he said. “But as players, coaches, members and fans, that hurt will fuel the club’s 2020 aspirations.”
Ablett was a member of Geelong’s 2007 and ‘09 premiership sides before moving to expansion club Gold Coast, where he was the inaugural captain.
He returned to Geelong for the past two seasons and excelled this year, making the 40-man All-Australian squad.
Ablett went forward this season and played 24 games — missing only through a onegame suspension — taking him to a career total of 345.
A similar season next year could mean the two-time Brownlow medallist enters the AFL’s top 10 for most games played. Western Bulldogs and Fitzroy great Bernie Quinlan is 10th with 366 games.