He’s gone. Over the course of the season the inevitability of it has been crushing. Now it has happened.

Gary snoozes through the drama while Ablett pines.

In recent times, each day as I have held my two poodles “Gary” and “Ablett” I have wondered what I will do if and when the day comes. If you can’t teach an old dog new tricks then how on earth can you change his name?

Gary, the older of the pair, has maintained a calm demeanour born of the knowledge that he is named after Gary Snr: an Ablett who will be always only associated with one club.

But the same cannot be said for Ablett who was very definitely named after Junior by my then 4 year old daughter, Bella. Over the last few months Ablett has been restless and ratty. He’s been barking at night and finding it hard to sleep, as have we. He knows he’s a Geelong dog and a red and yellow coat holds no allure for him no matter how much it is worth.

Gary Ablett Senior played his first AFL game for the Cats in 1984, his last in 1996. Junior played his first game in 2001 and now his last in 2010. But for a brief interregnum of four seasons, I – and every Geelong fan – have been watching Gary Ablett perform miracles for Geelong for more than a quarter of a century.

I watched him kick 14 goals from the wing in 1989 against Richmond at the MCG. In the finals series of that same year I saw every one of the four matches which to this day defines the pinnacle of individual achievement in our game. I have a photo in my office of the best mark ever taken over Gary Pert in 1994, which I saw in person.

I also saw Gary Ablett, a fresh faced teenager, dodge and weave in his first game against Essendon in 2001. It wasn’t much back then. He only had a few touches. But what he did have was the unmistakable radiance of magic.

In recent years the magician has perfected his art. His ability to move through the trench warfare of a congested pack and conjure up a possession which sees the ball move with lightening pace to the Geelong goal is not of this world. And of course I’ve watched Gary Ablett accumulate those possessions with productivity on an industrial scale.

What Gary Ablett has meant to me is joy. Nerves before an exam, stress in prosecuting a case, pain after a political defeat, or just a crappy week have all been remedied by just one moment of magic which gives cause to the single collective gasp that has come to be a characteristic of Kardinia Park. And when the moment is over, all that has been in the last seven days simply melts into joy.

The joy that Gary Ablett, in both his guises, has given me is immeasurable. In saying that, I know with certainty, that I speak for an entire city and for so many more.

Of course the sight of Gary Ablett wearing the red and yellow is painful. The joy from now on will belong to others. I hope they know what they have. But as a recipient of that joy over two and a half decades it is impossible not to repay it by wishing Gary Ablett all the best for his future.

In his press conference he said that deep in the bottom of his heart there will always be a special place for the Geelong Football Club. In the bottom of ours there will always be a special place for Gary Ablett.

But having fond memories of Gary Ablett is one thing, having a dog named after a Gold Coast player is another matter altogether.

My daughter, Bella, is now six. A keener follower of footy you will not find. As the original author of Ablett’s name she has felt the dilemma acutely.

Yet unbeknown to me she has been working on a contingency for some time now. And that contingency swung into immediate action yesterday afternoon. As I rang my wife to cry on her shoulder, I once again despaired at what to do with our poodles.

“What are you talking about?” she asked.

“Bella has been outside playing with them and I can tell you that ‘Joel’ and ‘Corey’ are just fine.”

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10 comments

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    • PaulM says:

      08:06am | 01/10/10

      Nice article Richard, it is often the 5yo to 13yo’s who I feel sorry for when club heroes pack up and leave as they are just to young to understand the power and lure of money.  To a young kid footy is a game they play and love not a business.

      The merchandise dept of footy clubs don’t mind when heros leave as can you imagine how many young Cats supporters rooms will need to be updated with new posters and pictures.

    • Jett says:

      08:58am | 01/10/10

      Great yarn, know the pain well.

    • MarK says:

      10:02am | 01/10/10

      Richard.

      Complete win mate. Great piece.

    • Dale Peterson says:

      10:04am | 01/10/10

      Now that he has renounced Geelong, Gary Jnr must now renounce the name that is synonomous with Geelong.

      Instead of going by the name Gary Ablett Jnr he should henceforth be known as Leigh Colbert Jnr.

      For those unfamiliar with the history of the club, Colbert notoriously left the Cats (whilst captain) at the end of 1999 to defect to North Melbourne in order to ‘play in premierships’. He is not held in high esteem by Geelong supporters.

    • Xavier says:

      11:24am | 01/10/10

      North would’ve won more too, if either they hadn’t given up so much to secure Colbert, or Colbert wasn’t injured all the time.

    • Andy says:

      01:33pm | 01/10/10

      The Colbert analogy is partly apt - as would be Buckley leaving Brisbane for the Pies for the same reason, only to be deprived of a premiership by the very same team. But Ablett has left under circumstances that guarantee that he has played in his last premiership, if not final. (Think Pele at the NY Cosmos). A class young man lured by obscene sums of money to where there is no football culture. Has he been to a game on the Gold Coast? This is the place that the day he was all over the papers was in the news for organising a race with women in bikinis. Similarly to Colbert,  however, the price they bought him for ensures they will be at least two good players short of a good team. He’ll be playing alongside someone who is on his third code in 12 months, who is only there for the publicity. He will come to regret this, and I feel sad for him. Geelong will continue to thrive, because they are a team of quality young men. Gary had the opportunity to be an immortal and the AFL should never have allowed any young player to be confronted with the choice he has had to make.

    • stephen says:

      10:25am | 01/10/10

      I read yesterday Gary was riled with Coach Thompson for playing him in the forward lines instead of in the centre, where he wanted to be.
      Too right. Gary’s best playing the ball in close quarters, close to the ground.
      L.C. of gravity. And now he’s gone to the G.C. and the coach next year fer being such a goose is gonna be lickin’ a wooden spoon till he has grandkids or the Roosters wins a G.F.

    • Phil says:

      11:00am | 01/10/10

      What is it with these Victorian footballers. Juddy ran home to Mum and now Gazza is running to Dad whom apparently now lives in South Eastern Queensland.

    • BBB says:

      01:04pm | 01/10/10

      Interesting.

      Had things been different (found God earlier, not belted the stuffing out of someone etc etc) Gary Snr may well have stayed with Hawthorn and likewise Junior may have ended up in Brown and Gold.  Imagine the diatribe from Kennett on seeing Junior departing up north for big bucks?  Thankfully that was avoided.

    • Stuart Robert says:

      08:59pm | 01/10/10

      Mate, we welcome the Ablett Junior with open arms to the greatest place on earth, the Gold Coast. I don’t know what you’ll do about your poodles, I’ll leave that one up to you. See you at the MCG next year when the GC Suns come marching home! Stu Robert MP (Federal Member for Fadden on the Gold Coast)

 

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