Geelong champion Gary Ablett decides to play on in 2020
Gary Ablett has spent two weeks since a painful preliminary final loss contemplating his future asking talking with family and friends if he should play on in 2020. And today he made a decision.
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Gary Ablett will play on in 2020.
The Geelong champion made the call on Thursday after two weeks of contemplation and talks with family and friends.
“I’ve always taken pride in my performances and play since reaching the elite level,” Ablett said on his personal website.
“The expectations that others place on me, have never been higher than the expectations and standards that I set for myself.
“I believe I can still meet, and to an extent exceed my own expectations, and it is for that reason why I have agreed to terms with Geelong and penned a new deal to extend my career for a 19th season.”
Ablett said the pain of losing the preliminary final to Richmond would burn in him for a 19th — and last — AFL season.
“The pain of losing that Preliminary Final will continue to burn over the summer. And so it should. But as players, coaches, members and fans, that hurt will fuel the club’s 2020 aspirations.
“I have no doubt in my mind that as a team we’re capable of winning the premiership next year, which is why I’ve decided to go around again.
“I’ll be putting in a lot of hard work during the off-season to give myself the best opportunity to play my role well and perform at the level that I know that I can.
“But this is it. Next season, Year 19, will be my last in the game.”
Ablett will retire as one of the best players in the history of the game, with more than 350 games and (at least) two Brownlow Medals and eight All-Australian jumpers.
H was part of Geelong’s 2007 and 2009 premiership teams before spending seven seasons at Gold Coast then returning to the Cattery at the end of 2017.
Fellow veteran Harry Taylor has also been offered a one-year contract extension, but Geelong is poised to lose star midfielder Tim Kelly in the upcoming trade period.
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His manager Liam Pickering last week dismissed suggestions Ablett would have to accept less money than in previous years to continue his career.
“We have agreed what the number is,” he said.
“It’s not (less). But I’m not going to go into exactly how it’s broken up.
“What I am saying to you … that part of it is completed. We have agreed. If Gaz decides he wants to play on, that’s what it is.”