AFL 2020: Gary Ablett’s wife Jordan posts emotional message after mum Trudy dies

AFL superstar Gary Ablett’s wife Jordan has posted an emotional message after the family revealed the death of an immediate family member.

Jordan and Gary Ablett

The wife of AFL superstar Gary Ablett has posted an emotional message on Instagram following the death of her mum Trudy this week.

Jordan Ablett wrote on Instagram her mum died on Sunday night after a long battle with cancer.

The tragedy comes after the Ablett family announced last month their son Levi was diagnosed with a rare and degenerative disease.

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The Cats confirmed the Ablett family’s heartbreak when the club announced the team would be wearing black armbands to honour Trudy and the extended Ablett family in their Friday night clash with Port Adelaide on the Gold Coast.

Gary Ablett has remained by Jordan’s side after he last month left the Cats’ isolation bubble to be with his family.

He revealed at the time in an emotional Instagram post Jordan was caring for their 18-month old son and her mum Trudy following a cancer diagnosis.

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Jordan shared her family’s grief in an emotional post on Friday evening.

Jordan, Gary and Levi Ablett

“It is with great sadness we share that on Sunday night our precious mum and Nanna, Trudy, went peacefully to be with the Lord, surrounded by her loving family,” Jordan captioned a photo of her mum.

“Thank you for your messages of love, care, and support—we are very grateful. With love, Keinzley, Nina, Jordan, Michael, Ben, Gary, Presley, Levi and Denver.”

Geelong star Tom Hawkins took a moment in his post-match interview with Channel 7 to pass on a message to the Ablett family.

“I just want to say to Garry and Jordan Ablett, myself and the footy club are really thinking of you guys at the moment,” Hawkins said.

The Herald Sun’s Jon Ralph described the family’s loss as a “huge tragedy” when discussing the club’s plans to bring Ablett back into their Queensland hub in coming weeks.

Ralph told Fox Footy on Friday Ablett could be back for Geelong as early as the club’s Round 16 clash with Essendon — after he serves a mandatory two weeks in quarantine.

“It is remarkable commitment from Ablett to dedicate himself to the cause giving it’s his last year and he wants to win a premiership,” Ralph said.

“He’s been given the tick-off by his family, putting aside that massive tragedy.”

Sending our love to Gary and Jordan Ablett after the passing of Jordan's mum Trudy 💙#AFLCatsPower #GeelongStrong pic.twitter.com/XjjKqDWW2g

— Geelong Cats (@GeelongCats) August 14, 2020

Footy legend Garry Lyon said of the Ablett family’s loss: “Our thought and sympathies with Jordan and the extended Ablett family”.

Ablett earlier praised his wife for her sacrifice in taking care of their family during his absence when the Cats were forced to flee Victoria with every other Victorian-based club when the NSW-Victoria border shut earlier this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Ablett posted on Instagram the day after he celebrated his milestone 350th match with a win over Gold Coast that it will be difficult for him to be away from his family for such a long period of time, especially while Jordan was going through so much.

Supplied image of Gary Ablett jnr and wife Jordan with their son Levi.

“Some of you might already know that Jordan is caring for her mum as she battles with cancer. But what many of you don’t know is that our son has been recently diagnosed with a rare and degenerative disease,” he posted.

“After a great amount of thought and consideration, we decided that it’s time to share this with you. We thank you for your love and support and want to emphasise just how grateful we are to be Levi’s parents.”

Gary and Jordan were then targeted by online scammers after they revealed Levi’s news.

The young mum posted on her Facebook page on Tuesday that online scammers were using a family photo of her alongside Ablett and Levi as part of an impostor profile that spammed social media users with fake cash give-away opportunities.