{"id":725185,"date":"2026-06-09T13:09:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T13:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/725185\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T13:09:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T13:09:22","slug":"afl-2026-geelong-cats-and-gold-coast-suns-great-gary-ablett-jr-inducted-into-the-australian-football-hall-of-fame-as-part-of-the-class-of-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/725185\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL 2026: Geelong Cats and Gold Coast Suns great Gary Ablett jr inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Opinion<\/p>\n

\"JakeJake Niall<\/a>Chief football writer, The Age<\/p>\n

June 9, 2026 \u2014 9:34pm<\/p>\n

June 9, 2026 \u2014 9:34pm<\/p>\n

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Back in 2018, I sat down with a genial Gary Ablett, who by then had achieved so much on the field that it was no longer necessary to affix \u201cjunior\u201d to the back of his name.<\/p>\n

The interview, a couple of weeks before the 2018 season, was tied to the son\u2019s return to Geelong after his seven years in Tibet \u2013 in exile from football\u2019s main street, on the Gold Coast, where he had maintained his standing as the game\u2019s most accomplished midfielder for four or five years, taking a second Brownlow and two further gongs as the players\u2019 most valuable player.<\/p>\n

\"GaryGary Ablett jnr has been inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.AFL Photos<\/p>\n

Ablett was relatively relaxed, perhaps because he was happy back home in Geelong. A self-described introvert, he did not feel that he had been closed off from the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019ve always been a pretty open person,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d say I\u2019m an introvert. I like to get to know people on a deeper level and really invest into a relationship. I\u2019m not going to give you everything when I first meet you.\u201d<\/p>\n

One could gain small glimpses of a private public figure from talking to him, such as his adherence (then) to an organic diet that leaned paleo, and that he trained in runners rather than footy boots.<\/p>\n

I had been told, some years earlier, that Ablett junior (as he would remain to older media who\u2019d covered his storied father) developed cold feet about leaving Geelong following the 2010 season, but that the die was cast \u2013 he\u2019d accepted the offer from the Suns (effectively the AFL\u2019s) and had to go north.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s better kept in-house,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It was impossible not to ponder what lay behind the gentle, super-polite persona of Ablett, if there was any torment and, if so, what had steeled him to achieve. In decades of speaking to footballers and sportsmen, it was rare to find one who had managed to straddle affability and inscrutability, without giving up anything that was contentious, emotional or fully revelatory.<\/p>\n

\"GaryGary Ablett jnr and Richmond great Dustin Martin going head-to-head in 2018, Ablett\u2019s first season back at Geelong after his return from Gold Coast.Wayne Ludbey<\/p>\n

So, we never learnt exactly how Ablett had coped with the immense burdens and trauma of being the son of Gary Ablett, a player who was worshipped like no other in the \u201980s and \u201990s, who seemed to challenge the laws of physics, yet who was also a troubled soul who found serious trouble in his football afterlife.<\/p>\n

We did not find out how he had steeled himself, what he had learnt from his feted \u2013 and ill-fated \u2013 father, besides the need to keep his feet in a contest.<\/p>\n

\"AblettAblett was the Suns\u2019 biggest signing as they launched their AFL tenure.Getty Images<\/p>\n

Only a couple of footballers in the game\u2019s history, Ted Whitten jnr and maybe Paul Hudson (son of Peter Hudson), would have dealt with the level of pressure that Ablett not only felt, but surmounted, riding it like a heavy bump and keeping his feet. Unlike Don Bradman\u2019s son John, who changed his name to Bradsen as a younger adult, Ablett just rolled with it.<\/p>\n

Those Geelong people who knew him pretty well were astounded by his achievements \u2013 to match his father as a player of the ages, deploying a different set of skills and abilities (Junior a relentless ground-level midfield champ, his father a forward who soared and made the freakish routine).<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only was he a son of a gun, he shared the same name,\u201d said Tom Harley, Ablett\u2019s captain at Geelong and now one of the AFL\u2019s most senior executives.<\/p>\n

But more impressive to other close observers over the journey was Ablett\u2019s ability to stay grounded as a person, to be emotionally stable and fundamentally decent, when he had every excuse for failing on those fronts.<\/p>\n

The price, it seemed to quite a few people around him, was that a part of him was unknowable \u2013 that anything personal from his family, and especially his father, was fenced off, and that he did not trust easily. Understandably.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

It says something about the burden of the Ablett name \u2013 and that weight was greater for the fact of sharing dad\u2019s very Christian name \u2013 that the first question on everyone\u2019s lips at the Australian Football Hall of Fame was always going to be: Is his dad in the house?<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, Ablett snr was not at the function, where his son was the standout name in the ranks of those admitted. But Gary jnr\u2019s media-averse and quiet brother Nathan, a gifted key forward who walked away from footy, was in attendance, as was their mother Sue. Zac Smith, a former Gold Coast ruckman and teammate of Gary jnr\u2019s who shared his Christian faith, was also there.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was born with some talent, but he worked like a pro from the start,\u201d said Harley of Ablett jnr\u2019s career. \u201cI sensed he viewed his career as a 20-year career, he almost paced himself early days, [and] then he obviously got on an amazing run and played arguably as good a football as anyone\u2019s played over that sort of period of time.<\/p>\n

\u201c[He is a] very humble guy, very grounded in his family, [and] very tight with his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI suspect he would say one of the highlights was playing with his brother for those couple of years … you really saw how much he cared for his brother.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a private guy, I wouldn\u2019t say difficult to get to know.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he had the right balance between the different and competing priorities in his life. But, you know, [he is a] remarkable person and [had a] remarkable career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ablett\u2019s career is divided into four parts. Part one was his early Geelong years, 2002-2006, as a highly talented, but somewhat sporadic half-forward who could take turns in the midfield.<\/p>\n

Over the post-season of Geelong\u2019s under-performing 2006 (which netted Joel Selwood in the draft), the players had honesty sessions. In one, Ablett was encouraged to work harder. He was told, words to the effect (as Harley confirmed), \u201cWe think you can be as good as Chris Judd, or even better\u201d.<\/p>\n

And he was, to borrow from Talking Heads.<\/p>\n

Part two involves the two flags, in which he was the top Cat; a Brownlow; and three Leigh Matthews trophies for MVP. These are the glory days.<\/p>\n

Editor’s pick\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Then he takes the irrefusable offer from Gold Coast, having been paid unders at Geelong as a result of a contract he signed before he morphed into the unstoppable force. Harley said some believe he was \u201ceven better\u201d at the Suns, performance-wise.<\/p>\n

His captaincy was subject to criticism, which was fair in the sense that he was not a leader in the Harley, Cameron Ling or Luke Hodge category. My guess, based on what came from those within the Suns, was that he was a super professional, not dissimilar to meticulous, highly disciplined tennis champions such as Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, that to survive and thrive had taken enormous self-focus. Taking others on board for the ride was asking too much of an introvert who had done so well to self-manage.<\/p>\n

The final act was the homecoming to Geelong, which didn\u2019t bring a third flag, but did see Ablett play his final game in the pandemic 2020 grand final<\/a>, at the Gabba, when he hurt his shoulder, played on valiantly and ended with a second runner-up medal.<\/p>\n

In that last game, Ablett\u2019s greatness was referenced by a player whose reticence put Ablett in the shade \u2013 Dustin Martin, who turned the game and duly took his third Norm Smith Medal.<\/p>\n

Martin, not one for over-praise \u2013 or for public utterances about any subject \u2013 called \u201cGaz\u201d simply \u201cthe GOAT\u201d.<\/p>\n

Whether Gary Ablett\u2019s career was the greatest in the AFL<\/a>, or merely just one of the best this century, is a matter of conjecture.<\/p>\n

While one cannot know if his father, due to the tragic death of a young woman in his company in 2000, will ever become a Legend in the same hall of fame, we know that the son will be elevated to that station one day, and without rancour or debate.<\/p>\n

Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"JakeJake Niall<\/a> is a Walkley award-winning sports journalist and chief AFL writer for The Age.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Opinion Jake NiallChief football writer, The Age June 9, 2026 \u2014 9:34pm June 9, 2026 \u2014 9:34pm Save…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-725185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}