He made his name as a champion midfielder, claiming two Brownlow medals, eight All-Australian jackets, five club best and fairests and countless other individual honours across an illustrious career that has plenty of life in it yet.
But the newly found midfield depth at the Gold Coast SUNS means former skipper Gary Ablett will start his 2017 campaign in the forward line according to coach Rodney Eade.
The SUNS take on the Western Bulldogs at Metricon Stadium next Thursday evening in their final game in the JLT Community Series and with a plethora of talent at his disposal, Eade has the luxury of easing one of his most valuable assets into the action.
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“I reckon Gary will start in the forward line,” Eade told reporters on Monday at an Australia Post AFL Community Camp appearance in Ormeau.
“He hasn’t played yet, our midfield’s going well, so he’ll have to work his way into that to be honest.
“Other players have had a lot more game time playing there so I think he’ll start as a forward and ease his way in.”
Gold Coast will be looking to field its strongest lineup of the pre-season against the reigning premiers with the 24-man squad to face the Bulldogs likely to be a dress rehearsal of Eade’s round one team.
Former Crow Jarryd Lyons will make his first appearance in SUNS colours while the Queensland side will also welcome back talls Tom Lynch and Jarrod Witts and midfielders Aaron Hall and Matt Rosa.
“[Jarryd] Lyons will play, Ablett will play, [Jarrod] Witts will be back, [Aaron] Hall, [Matt] Rosa. There’s another couple I think who will be available so we’ll have about seven,” Eade said.
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“Jack Bowes will be available so I think all those players will play.
“An extremely good test for us and I’m certainly glad we’re playing them. It’s the final hitout and they’ll be pretty close to full strength.
“We’ll probably only have two or three missing so we’re nearly full strength with the team we’ll take into round one so it’ll be a good hitout for us.”
