CATS KEEP DOOR OPEN FOR ABLETT TO KICK ON
GEELONG is “open minded” about Gary Ablett extending his career for a 19th season.
After winding back the clock with two scintillating performances, the former Gold Coast skipper has regenerated conversations about playing on next season.
And coach Chris Scott admitted the Cats would certainly keep the door ajar for the dual Brownlow Medal winner to stretch his career beyond 2019.
“We’re open minded, and I think he is as well,” Scott told SEN’S Whateley.
“We have been at a stage in the cycle in previous years, probably for most of my time at Geelong, we’re it’s been incumbent on us to transition the list, and sometimes older players can be victims of circumstance.
“We’ve brought in so many young players and we’ve got such a different list to the one even four years ago and we don’t feel we’re in a position where we need to be aggressive in list turnover. That is a completely different situation to how he’s going but it does work in his favour.”
Booting eight goals and winning a stack of the ball in his new role as a nearpermanent small forward, Ablett has rediscovered the form of 10 years ago.
Scott conceded Ablett had taken a little longer to adapt to his new role, but stressed that injury had also played a significant part.
“That was (the case) a little bit for Gary,” Scott said of Ablett adjusting to life as a small forward. “He wasn’t coming back to Geelong to play the same system that he played in 2010. The other important part ... the athletes are so good that if you’re a little bit off physically, it has a really big impact.”