Ablett returns for Dockers road trip
THE Gold Coast Suns believe Gary Ablett can play out the rest of the season as he prepares to end a sporadic month of football with the season’s biggest away game in Perth.
Ablett and Gold Coast co-captain Steven May headline a list of inclusions that will leave four players on the 45-man list without a game by the end of the weekend.
The dual Brownlow Medallist was a late withdrawal from Saturday’s loss to Richmond with a hamstring injury but passed his fitness test without a hitch yesterday.
He played two games between rounds 14 and 19.
Coach Rodney Eade said he was confident Ablett could play again in the last four games and his selection for this week’s game shut down suggestions he didn’t want to travel. “He was close last week,” Eade said. “He did some training and some work last week so he has obviously been able to back that up.
“He has had two weeks now of some good, solid work on the track. He passed his test easily.
“Unless there is a new injury we are certainly confident he will be able to play the week after.”
Eade said Ablett may never recapture the form of 2013 but was confident he could still produce the level he from earlier in 2017 that still has him in the race for the club’s best and fairest and All-Australian selection.
Ruckman Jarrod Witts (shoulder/ foot), Callum Ah Chee (shoulder/concussion), Brayden Fiorini (hamstring), Ben Ainsworth (knee) and Michael Rischitelli (rested) will be among those missing. Josh Schoenfeld, Trent McKenzie, Mitch Hallahan and Dan Currie are among those named alongside Ablett and May in the side today to replace them. TOMORROW, 7.40PM, DOMAIN STADIUM FREMANTLE FB N.Suban 8 HB C HF FF Foll G.Logue 2 L.Weller 14 H.Crozier 17 H.Ballantyne 1 J.Griffin 12 GOLD COAST SUNS J.Hamling 21 L.Ryan 38 M.Johnson 37 L.Neale 27 S.Kersten 22 C.McCarthy 23 N.Fyfe 7 E.Hughes 15, D.Tucker 18, C.Sutcliffe 33, D.Pearce 6. S.Darcy 4, G.Ibbotson 5, M.Taberner 20. D.Pearce, J.Griffin. C.Blakely, S.Darcy. ODDS TV V S.Hill 32 B.Hill 9 B.Grey 28 B.Cox 36 D.Mundy 16 A.Sexton 6, M.Hallahan 14, D.Swallow 24, M.Spencer 43 J.Grant 2, J.Lonergan 7, J.Bowes 29. G.Ablett, D.Currie, S.May, T.McKenzie, M.Hallahan, J.Schoenfeld. M.Rischitelli, J.Witts, J.Lonergan, C.Ah Chee, B.Fiorini, B.Ainsworth