By Jennifer Witham
Gold Coast SUNS captain Gary Ablett says winning a premiership with the GC SUNS will be more satisfying than either of the two he played in with his former club Geelong.
The 27-year-old said he was enjoying his time at the GC SUNS despite playing for a side that lost more often than it won.
He also said a flag with the GC SUNS, who he joined at the end of 2010 after he decided he was after a new challenge, would overshadow being part of the Cats' 2007 and 2009 premierships.
"I like to win but I think at the end of the day, if I look ahead a bit and in a few years time we did win a premiership at this club, I think it would be even more satisfying than the ones I won with Geelong," he told 3AW on Wednesday night.
"It is a club that started from nothing and I don't think there's been a time where you've seen another football club that's playing maybe 14 guys that have played under six games.
"If we can win a premiership down the track, I think that would be even more satisfying than the 2007 and 2009 Grand Finals."
Ablett was one of eight to join the GC SUNS as part of the AFL rule that allowed the club to approach uncontracted players at the end of last season.
He said while he was happy with the youthful direction taken so far, he would welcome more experienced players if the club decided to make that a priority this off-season.
"I think for some of the more senior guys like myself and Campbell Brown and Nathan Bock, it would be great if they could bring some more senior guys into the club to help out," he said.
"But, I'm sure if there's an option to take someone who would help the side, I'm sure they would go down that track.
"At the moment, with some of the players we've got, I don't think it's going to take five years to have success.
"I think the club's been fantastic playing a lot of these guys and rotating them so they're all getting game time, so hopefully it's only two or three years down the track we're right up there playing some finals footy.
"Hopefully we can have another crack at a premiership before my time is up."
Ablett admitted the challenge of captaining a side in the GC SUNS position was hard but had arrived realistic it was going to be an arduous journey.
"I'm a very competitive person and I hate losing but when I made the decision to come up here, I didn't expect too much [success] in the first year," he said.
"Having so many young guys, it's going to take time.
"When I first got up here, I sat down with Ken Hinkley and he said I needed to remember what it was like when I first got to Geelong and how much time it takes.
"I've just got to make sure I'm out there and helping these guys to mature into men as quickly as possible. That's the role I'm really trying to take on this year."
Ablett also said he was "disappointed" in media commentator Robert Walls' comments in April that questioned his leadership and commitment when Walls hadn't witnessed him in the football environment at either Gold Coast or Geelong.
"For him to come out and say some of the things he did I felt was a bit unfair," he said.
"People are going to have their opinions and if you let them affect you, it's going to affect your footy. I moved on from that pretty quickly."
He said he had tried to "lead by example" in order to set a strong culture among the young group at the GC SUNS.
