Runner-up Gary Ablett feels for Dane Swan

HOW much pain can one football club endure in the space of one weekend, with the promise of so much more to come?

HOW much pain can one football club endure in the space of one weekend, with the promise of so much more to come?

Plenty, when you combine Geelong's preliminary final loss with the events of the last 48 hours.

First the collapse of an era, then the recriminations of that loss, and then the kicker of the Paul Chapman assault allegations.

Last night Geelong star Gary Ablett again went into the Brownlow Medal as a top-three contender, and for the third time in four years came up short.

Only just, but Ablett is after greatness, and now he has a runner-up to go with his win and third placing.

Next week he will tell Geelong he is gone, and the football club will have to again suck up the pain.

All at Geelong bar president Frank Costa have given up hope he might stay, with the rumours strengthening he has already agreed to terms on a five-year $9.5 million deal.

Last night Ablett was more concerned for white-hot favourite Dane Swan, although he conceded his failure to capitalise on early dominance hurt him.

"(Chris Judd) me, but he's an amazing player and to win two Brownlows is an amazing effort," Ablett told the Herald Sun.

"He is a great player, but I feel a bit sorry for Swanny tonight. I know what it's like to come in as the favourite and people say the medal is already around your neck.

"The season he had was amazing and he deserved to win it just as much as Juddy, so it would have been nice if they had a tie. I know what it feels like coming in with so much pressure."

Ablett was hot in six of the first seven games, but the three votes continually eluded him.

With a flat patch mid-way through the year, he was always going to be too far back with only 14 votes from 16 rounds.

He would close with 12 votes from his last six games, but with Judd on a rampage, it was never going to be enough.

"It was actually quite funny. Early on there were a few games I thought I was a bit stiff in," Ablett said.

"I got ones when I thought I was a chance to poll and then there were games in the mid-season where I didn't think I would poll and I did, so it made up for itself," he said.

If anything, he deserved his 26 votes compared to his 30 last year.

But Judd came from nowhere, in a decision that will prompt endless debates about just how he polled so many votes.

The one silver lining for Ablett - he could relax and take in the evening after Geelong's dumping by the Pies on Friday night.

"It was hard. It is very disappointing. Taking nothing away from Collingwood, they were just better than us on the night, they played great footy and I think they are going to be very hard to beat if they play that way in the Grand Final."

Now only the decision of his football career awaits.