By Michael Whiting
Gold Coast SUNS captain Gary Ablett has no regrets over an on-field exchange with young ruckman Rory Thompson at the weekend, saying he had moved on from the incident.
Ablett was seen grabbing Thompson's guernsey while giving him some stern words during the third quarter of Saturday's 48-point loss against Port Adelaide.
The Brownlow medallist said it was something he had done "200 or 300 times" in his career and was nothing more than an attempt to fire up a teammate.
"I didn't really grab him," Ablett said.
"I gave him a little push to fire him up. It's not the first time I've done it."
Ablett said he was surprised the incident had been highlighted in so many media outlets in the days following the match.
He said Port Adelaide had kicked the previous three goals and in his role as captain, thought he had to change the momentum by challenging his teammates.
"I went into the centre bounce and I wanted to make sure we won that tap-out, [so I] tried to fire the boys up," he said.
"I didn't think there was an issue at all. Rory couldn't even remember the incident after the game but the media have run with it and made it into a big thing. I moved on pretty quickly.
"I didn't think the body language was great and I wanted to spark the boys up and I felt if we could win that centre bounce and get it forward, it might help the boys out and get a bit of confidence going again – that's all it was."
Ablett and Thompson tried to hose down the incident on Monday with a playful picture uploaded on twitter that had Thompson aggressively pinning his captain against a locker.
Ablett is in the second year of a five-year contract with the Suns, and refuted suggestions frustration over a lack of on-field success was starting to boil to the surface.
"I go out every week to win and when things aren't going well you have to change the way you're doing things," he said.
"I hate losing, but at the same time I knew it was going to take time when I moved up here.
"I'm very happy with my decision. I knew it was going to be challenging but that's part of the fun at the same time."
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL
