Article courtesy of the Border Mail

By Chris Mitchell 

The AFL’s biggest name isn’t coming to the Border, with Gold Coast SUNS yesterday revealing Brownlow medallist Gary Ablett would not play against Greater Western Sydney at Lavington Oval on Saturday.

GC SUNS coach Guy McKenna, mindful of having his marquee player and captain fit and firing for round 1 against Adelaide at Metricon Stadium on March 31, has decided to rest the two-time Geelong premiership player for the round 3 NAB Cup clash.

“Gaz won’t be coming,” McKenna said yesterday.

“We’ve got two travel games in two weeks.

“We have to turn around and go to Melbourne for a twilight game (next week).

“He was obviously going to play one of those, probably Melbourne.

“He’s well advanced as far as minutes on the ground go — he’s had a great preseason.”

With no Victorian team playing and the GC SUNS and Giants gearing up for just their second and first seasons in the AFL, respectively, Ablett’s withdrawal will hurt the gate.

But McKenna said the likes of Michael Rischitelli and rugby league convert Karmichael Hunt, who signed a contract extension this week, were strong chances of facing the Giants, who were belted by Hawthorn to the tune of 74 points at Launceston last week.

“I’d like to think we’ll take a competitive unit, but we are also conscious of travelling twice in two weeks.”

The GC SUNS and Giants fly into Albury on Friday and will leave straight after Saturday’s game, which starts 5.30pm.

McKenna said he had monitored last week’s Essendon-St Kilda fiasco, when the Bombers’ didn’t show up at Wangaratta after failed attempts to land due to poor weather.

“That was obviously a big shame,” he said.

“Having said that, I was certainly putting calls in to make sure the game this weekend was going ahead.

“There’s a great facility at Lavington and the boys are looking forward to it.

“GWS has been very competitive in the games I’ve seen so we are not going to take them lightly.

“Getting used to travelling is part of growing up.

“Like what we had to go through, every week is a first for GWS.”