CHECKING OUT: GREAT CLAIMS ABLETT HAS MENTALLY SWITCHED OFF AT SUNS
PREMIERSHIP coach Paul Roos says Gary Ablett has already mentally checked out of Gold Coast and was never cutout to captain the club.
In a strong assessment of Ablett’s seventh season at the Suns, Roos said he looks “disenchanted” and “not fully committed to his club”.
And the former Fitzroy and Sydney great believes Geelong will seek assurance from the champion midfielder whether he is willing to meet defensive and positional expectations before the club commits to a deal to trade him in in October.
Gold Coast is prepared to play hard ball to seek a quality return from the Cats, potentially involving Geelong defender Jake Kolodjashnij.
Roos was adamant Ablett, a dual Brownlow Medalist, was still able to play at a high level, but said his leadership at the Suns had missed the mark.
“He’s the best player I’ve seen. Gary had done a fantastic job from a playing point of view, (but the) biggest mistake Gold Coast have made was making him captain,” Roos said on Triple M.
“He is not a captain of a football club. Not the way captains exist now.
“It’s taking nothing away from Gary, it’s just that some people are leaders and some people are great, great players.
“He is so good he can play at about 80 per cent and still be a very effective player. He is not doing much defensively and he had obviously been injured a fair bit.”
The Cats have expressed their interest in securing Ablett back at the club but coach Chris Scott has acknowledged the trade deal would be difficult to complete.
Ablett won two premierships with the Cats in 2007 and 2009 before leaving at the end of 2010. He has won eight All-Australian guernseys and five best and fairest awards, including three at Gold Coast.
Roos said the game benefits from Ablett digging in his heels in at Gold Coast in an effort to help resurrect the new franchise club, excluding personal or family issues Ablett has.
Roos said the Cats would need a full commitment from the 302-gamer if they were to welcome him back to the club.
“From the Geelong side of it, I think the coach would need to eyeball Gary Ablett and say ‘why do you want to come back’?” he said.
“And if you do want to come back are you prepared to chase, tackle and play forward if we need you to play forward and kick 40 goals or whatever?
“And if Gary eyeballs me and says ‘these are the reasons I want to come back and I am desperate to get back to your footy club and desperate to tackle and desperate to chase and I’m desperate to be a team player’, then I think it’s a different argument.”
Roos said the Suns should trade Ablett if the gun ballwinner was intent on leaving.
“If he is desperate to go and Geelong want him, you don’t keep a player who doesn’t want to be there,” Roos said.
“Putting any personal issues to the side, I know Geelong people would love to see him back in Geelong. I’d like to see him take that footy team at the Suns and put them on his back again and say ‘righto guys new coach, I’m supporting you’.”