Gary Ablett must give his best before he leaves Gold Coast, writes Jon Ralph

IF Gary Ablett is so desperate to return home, not only must he be prepared to take a significant pay cut, he needs to play like the champion we know he is, writes JON RALPH.

It seems Gary Ablett never made the Gold Coast his home. Picture: AAP

GARY Ablett this week took the Footy Show’s cash to issue the Suns an ultimatum: trade me or I will retire.

That it took a wad of money for Ablett to reveal his anguish at his personal circumstances meant the cynics had a field day.

But if Ablett’s interview was part strategy, there is no doubt it was also heartfelt for a player who never seems to have made Gold Coast his home.

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Ideally, Ablett would be able to reveal exactly why he needs to return home, but life is never that simple.

The Suns believed last year Ablett loved the Gold Coast but was having trouble convincing wife Jordan of its charms.

If they had truly believed Ablett’s family life was in crisis they would have considered last year’s trade request more seriously.

Gary Ablett says he could retire at the end of the season. Picture: AAP

As coach Rodney Eade told the Herald Sun last month, the club had reason to believe Jordan was settling in well over summer.

Yet as Frank Costa said on Friday, being an Ablett is a complicated process.

“When he was a young fellow, his father sort of lost his way pretty early in the piece, his mother was left with four kids and had problems, Gary was the one who stood strong and supported them,” he said on SEN.

“He’s got a few issues which he doesn’t want to talk about, but I gather it’s with the family and that he’d like to be home to help them more.”

His father has had his battles with mental health and that has not been the only ongoing issue in his immediate family.

The question is what happens now if he needs to return, given the hand grenade he lobbed into the Suns camp just two weeks into the season.

What happens now is that if Ablett has any hope of getting to Geelong, he holds up his end of the bargain.

If Ablett is so desperate to return home — and we have to believe he has strong reasons — then he must be prepared to take a significant pay cut.

He can’t expect to waltz back into Geelong with the Suns sweetening his deal by paying part of his wage.

Ablett trains hard this week. Picture: Richard Gosling

That desire to get back to his loved ones can’t be conditional — “I can’t wait to return to my family but only if the price is right”.

Like Travis Cloke before him, he must be prepared to effectively void his deal and accept a pittance of his $1 million contract if that’s all Geelong can afford.

Every dollar he accepts less than $400,000 makes it that little bit easier for the Cats to fit him into their 2018 salary cap.

But more importantly, he needs to play like the champion we know he is, even at this late stage of his career.

He needs to do exactly what he did in the year before he left Geelong — play such outstanding football that no one can accuse him of sooking on the way out.

That was exactly the taunt levelled at him this week — that if he didn’t get to play in the midfield he was downing tools in a public display of petulance.

Then going on national TV in an interview that was brilliant for his own leverage but terrible for a club hoping to avoid a year-long circus.

A move back home will be a lot easier to accept if Gary Ablett has a strong final year with the Suns. Picture: AAP

If Ablett is seen to be busting a gut all year to help his side rise up the ladder an honourable departure is so much easier to orchestrate.

Ablett, Patrick Dangerfield and Lance Franklin all played breathtaking football before leaving their clubs to find new homes.

But for those wondering why we don’t go to a NRL system of transparency over player movement, Lachie Henderson’s case study is just as relevant.

As his move to Geelong became an open secret, his form tailed off to such an extent that the Blues eventually pulled him from playing at any level.

AFL boss Gill McLachlan weighed in, Henderson’s mum bit back, and the whole episode just got downright nasty.

If Ablett’s form this year doesn’t rise above mediocre it complicates his return in all sorts of ways.

Suddenly the entire narrative of Gold Coast’s season will again be about disharmony.

It doesn’t bode well for a problem-plagued expansion club on the brink of a full-blown crisis.

Originally published as Gary Ablett must give his best before he leaves Gold Coast, writes Jon Ralph