Gary Ablett and Gold Coast need to end standoff before reputations are ruined, writes Mark Robinson
DOES Geelong need Gary Ablett? Does Gazza owe the Suns? MARK ROBINSON says it’s getting ugly - and it’s probably best for everyone if the champ returns to the Cats.
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IT’S getting ugly for Gary Ablett.
The one-time darling for all AFL supporters because of his sheer white-hot talent, Ablett is arguably staining his reputation.
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Veteran coach Paul Roos said Ablett had already mentally checked out of the Gold Coast Suns and is “not fully committed to his club”.
They are damning words, but how can you disagree?
Since Round 15, Ablett has played only three games because of injury as the Suns lurched from calamity to crisis.
Former coach Rodney Eade says he had a tremendous relationship with his former captain, but he would be well aware of the delicateness of Ablett with injury.
Interim coach Dean Solomon was handed the title after Eade departed and Ablett has been a no-show for him, too.
Solomon has waited for seven years to get a crack in what is a torrid time for him and the team — and Ablett hasn’t given him a chop out.
Only Ablett knows the seriousness of his injury, but you have to wonder if Ablett was playing for a team about to play finals, would he play?
It’s ugly now — and it was revealed this week Ablett had put his Gold Cast home up for sale — and it will get uglier.
Suns boss Mark Evans is frustrated with the constant questions about Ablett, as was witnessed this week. More questions will come.
The fact is Ablett signed a three-year worth about $3 million, and wanted out after the first year. He now wants out after the second year. He says he will probably retire with a year to run on his contract, presumably if he’s not traded back to Geelong.
It was blackmail from Ablett and at this stage the Suns’ hand is mainly bluff.
Evans keeps saying Ablett is contracted for 2018, but does anyone really believe the dual Brownlow medallist will be on the Gold Coast next year?
Yep, no one. Probably not even Evans.
Evans is talking tough at the moment, but surely the new coach will carry the most important opinion on Ablett’s future. The new coach will be high on culture and leadership and buy in, and he won’t have a bar of anyone who doesn’t want to be at the club.
When does a CEO decide who’s on the list or not, anyway?
It seems Evans is playing political football with Geelong and Ablett seemingly is playing political football with the Suns.
It is a complex and sad situation for everyone.
What is now clear is Ablett needs Geelong more than Geelong needs Ablett.
AFL legend Wayne Carey believes Ablett owes the Gold Coast to stay.
He probably does owe the Suns because he signed a three-year deal, of which there was significant front-end money. But it’s way beyond who owes who what.
Ablett has taken roughly $10 million from the Gold Coast, but he did play the best football of his career and mostly held up his end of the bargain. But did the Suns?
When he signed in 2010, the vision sold to him would’ve been exactly how it’s been played out at GWS: Struggle early, grow the team, recruit wisely, contend in five years or so.
The Suns haven’t delivered and the AFL has let down Ablett as much as the Suns.
Anyway, not only have the Suns not delivered on their vision, it’s been shambolic.
Ablett might not have been the ideal choice as skipper — Roosy didn’t like that appointment, either — but a drug culture which brought the club to its knees isn’t ideal either.
Not only did the team not win enough games, but it’s PR poster boy Karmichael Hunt gets busted for cocaine offences.
No, the Suns dream has become a nightmare.
There’s no plausible reason why the Suns would keep Ablett and why he won’t be at the Cattery in 2018.
Of course, if the Suns try to drive a ridiculous trade it won’t happen — and Ablett may retire.
That’s a no-win for every party.
There are hurdles. The Suns want some compensation for front-ending Ablett’s contract.
The figures aren’t known, but it’s something like this. The Suns paid Ablett, say, $1.25 million in his first two seasons, meaning only $500,000 remains on the contract.
They probably want a player and/or an early draft selection to offset the money spent.
But the Cats want to follow the Hawthorn blueprint with Sam Mitchell, which was pick No. 88 from West Coast.
Both teams have reasonable arguments, but the Suns might have to suck it up because, after all, they did the front-end deal.
But what if the music stops at the end of the trade period and they don’t trade Ablett, what happens then? He either retires or plays out his final year of footy miserable.
To enable a trade to work, Ablett might have to find a way to help compensate the Suns.
Clearly, he is their best player, a foundation and marquee player, who won a Brownlow Medal at the club.
There is a real danger Ablett could totally shun the club when he finishes, which is poor for their already poor culture. What if Ablett could return to the club after his career is finished, help promote the club, attend corporate gigs, be an ambassador?
No club wants disengaged former champions.
Another hurdle could be the AFL’s involvement. It’s possible the league pays Ablett to promote the game in southeast Queensland and that’s not bang for your buck if Gazza is living in Torquay.
At the moment it’s ugly, Evans has gone to the mattresses, the Cats say there are too many issues, Gazza isn’t playing and his house is on the market.
It’s best for everyone, and certainly best for Ablett, that he returns to Geelong.
Because if not, Ablett will probably retire and never set foot back in the joint. That’s ugly for everyone.
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