Understandably, many AFL analysts were led to believe any hopes of Gary Ablett winning a third Brownlow medal vanished the second he popped his left shoulder in a crunching tackle from Brent Macaffer in Round 16.
But that didn’t stop the two-time “Chas” winner from having a fair crack on footy’s night of nights.
Ablett surged to the top of the Brownlow count early, turning in five best on-field performances in the opening nine rounds.
He polled 22 votes in his 15 matches played, with his 13th vote seeing him move past the elusive 200 career vote barrier, becoming just the fifth player to do so.
His 14th vote marked the most ever by a player at that point in the count.
And while the 2014 Brownlow medal ultimately belonged to West Coast midfielder, Matthew Priddis, Gold Coast’s champion still planted a powerful stamp on 2014.
Ablett became the first player in the game’s history to be awarded eight consecutive All-Australian honours, joining Robert Harvey, Mark Ricciuto, Gerard Healy and Greg Williams in an elite group of players to achieve the significant feat.
At the time, General Manager of Football Operations, Marcus Ashcroft, had nothing but praise for Ablett and his sensational season.
“Remarkably, Gary took his game yet against to another level this year, and although wasn’t able to complete the season, still showed his continued growth as arguably the game’s best midfielder,” Ashcroft said.
“As our club captain, he continues to lead our playing group both on and off the field, with his preparation to training and recovery setting an elite benchmark for our young talented playing list.
“It’s rewarding to see his extraordinary output has once again been recognised by the All-Australian selection committee.”
Sammy Soho and Gary Ablett inspect the GC SUNS' skipper's eighth consecutive All-Australian blazer.
The stats that matter
Senior matches: 15
Goals: 24
Disposals: 481 (32.07)
Marks: 30 (2)
Clearances: 96 (7.9)
Tackles: 91 (6.1)
Contested Possessions: 262 (17.5)
Inside-50s: 77 (5.1)
Rebounds: 38 (2.54)
What they said...
"There was an option to potentially give an arthroscope to Gary to hopefully play in the next four to five weeks.
"There was always going to be a risk if he played on with it that there'd be further damage to the joint and potentially some bone issues with the joint.
"We came back to the long-term view that we wanted to make sure Gary was 100 per cent right." – Marcus Ashcroft, General Manager of Football Operations.
Memorable moment
At the time, it was earmarked one of the early favourites for Goal of the Year.
After a searching kick to the top of the goal square, the ball (as it has done many times before) came into the hands of Ablett.
The rest had to be seen to be believed.
The little master dummied a kick on his right but was forced to backtrack when two Giants opponents closed in on him.
Ablett then faked a kick on his left to get rid of Giants defender Sam Frost before switching back onto his preferred right foot to snap truly from 30 metres out.
Just another magical highlight from ‘Gaz’.
