Gary Ablett Jr. has lifted the lid on the famed 2007 Leading Teams honesty session that set him on the path to greatness.
On Tuesday night, Ablett officially joined father, Gary Sr., in the Australian Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
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Detailing the cornerstones of his glittering career to host Gerard Whateley, Ablett gave his account of the Leading Teams backstory – which has been told previously by former teammates Cameron Mooney and Brad Ottens.
The Cats employed Leading Teams, an Australian consulting company focussing on leadership development, at the end of an unfulfilling 2006 season, in hopes of driving individual accountability and reigniting their premiership charge.
Mooney recalled Ablett being “quite upset” at hearing some home truths in a “peer assessment”, and Ablett on Tuesday night expressed how “fortunate” he was to receive that feedback at a crucial juncture in his career.
“It gets talked about a lot,” Ablett began at Crown Palladium in Melbourne.
“I think you need to go back a couple of years to get a bit more of an idea of why Leading Teams were employed.
“We played in a prelim final in 2004 against Brisbane – a game I think we lost by a goal; we could have easily won. And then, 2005, we played in a semi-final against Sydney … Nick Davis kicked three or four goals in the last quarter, and we actually had a lot of guys who retired at the end of that year.
“In 2006, we went in with really high expectations – we expected to finish inside the top-four and have a real crack at winning the premiership.
“We didn’t make finals that year, and it was at that time the club decided that some changes needed to be made. We employed a company by the name of Leading Teams.
“They were basically employed to help create some structure around the leadership group, but also to create an environment where guys felt comfortable enough to challenge each other.
“And one of the exercises that I took part in was a ‘peer assessment’ … where I received some feedback on the things I was doing well, but also the areas that I needed to improve.
“And I think they told me at that time that for me to become the player that they believed I could become, I needed to train with a lot more intensity.
“I can still remember grabbing a couple of guys after that and just saying: ‘Hey, you’ve challenged me on this, I now need you to walk me through what that looks like.
“I was so fortunate with me that my teammates cared about me enough to have that honest conversation, and I had a couple of guys that really walked me through just what it is to be a professional, so that I could get the best out of myself.”
Ablett, who became emotional during his thank-yous, explained what he went about doing after receiving that feedback.
“I think, up until that point, I was always very good at looking after my body. I’ve always believed to become the best footy player you can, it’s a lifestyle, it’s looking after yourself, it’s recovering well,” he said.
“I was always someone that was looking into different diets to try and get that edge. I was always a big believer in quality over quantity.
“But I think the biggest thing was making sure every training session I was going to, I was training with intensity, and I was getting the best out of myself.
“I think for any young kid that comes in, it does take a little bit of time to learn, and as I said, I’m just thankful that my teammates challenged me early enough in my career so that I made the most of the opportunities I had.”
A dual Brownlow medallist and one of the game’s greatest ever midfielders, Ablett played in two Geelong premierships before taking his talents to Gold Coast in 2010 in arguably the highest-profile move in footy history.
‘The Little Master’ captained the Suns for six seasons – including one of those Brownlow years – before making his fairytale return to the Cats in late 2017.
Ablett is an eight-time All-Australian, a six-time club champion across his Geelong and Gold Coast tenures, a three-time AFLCA player of the year, and a five-time Leigh Matthews Trophy winner.