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Gold Coast SUNS skipper Gary Ablett has committed to achieving success with his team mates during his contracted period, hinting that he would happily extend his stay on the glitter strip in order to see the SUNS win a maiden Toyota AFL Premiership.
It will be satisfying if we can win a premiership before my time is up, that’s the reason I came up here and I don’t want to leave, I won’t be leaving, the Club may delist me but I won’t be leaving until we get one. Ablett admitted the Club’s winless 2012 season had been hard to take, however says he was aware of the challenges the young SUNS would face when he agreed to terms and became the list’s marquee signing in October 2010.
“I didn’t expect it to just happen when I first moved up here and I don’t think people on the outside should either. It’s something that is going to take time, you know I kind of feel for the supporters at times, but at the same time it’s tough for us as well. We hate losing, I hate losing, I came up from a club where they won a lot of games and to come up here it’s been quiet challenging but at the same time it’s fun and it’s exciting and I cant wait til we are down the track and have success and are winning games.”
Former Swans skipper Brett Kirk has been working with the Club’s leadership group, players and administration as they continue to build a strong culture on the coast, while two time premiership winning coach and Brownlow Medallist Malcolm Blight has joined the GC SUNS coaching team in an advisory capacity for the remainder of the season, Ablett said the situation is not unlike that experienced at Geelong when he arrived as a talented teenager.
I can still remember getting down to Geelong as a 17 year old and it was kind of similar down there, it was a team that hadn’t had success for a long time and there was a lot of shuffling around the club and players getting delisted and bringing new players in just to get the right people around the club and it took a while to build the culture down there and have the success that they did and it’s the same challenge up here and I guess the biggest challenge is that we are starting from scratch up here. While there have been unacceptable performances this season, the skipper is confident valuable lessons are being learnt and that the GC SUNS must stay the course and keep striving for improvement.
“It’s been a tough first 12 games, we obviously haven’t had a win, but at the same time I think we are going to get a lot out of the first part of the year, as a playing group we are starting to realise what it takes to win game and be a successful Club and we are just going to keep challenging the group and everyone around the Club to make sure we keep moving forward.”
