Gary Ablett Jnr has waltzed into the Australian Football Hall of Fame at his first attempt, as Essendon great Dustin Fletcher also joined the illustrious halls.<\/p>\n
The Little Master joined his father on Tuesday night to further strengthen his claim as the best footballer of the modern era.<\/p>\n
The dual Brownlow medallist has one of the most illustrious resumes in footy with two premiership medals, six-club best and fairest, five AFLPA MVPs, eight All-Australians from his 357 games across Geelong and Gold Coast.<\/p>\n
Players must be retired for at least five years before being eligible for the Hall of Fame, but Ablett was never going to have to wait as long as his father, who was only inducted in 2005.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been reflecting on what it means to be recognised for the Hall of Fame at the end of my career,\u201d Ablett told AFL.com.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great honour and I think back to all the hard work that was involved. I\u2019ve been incredibly fortunate to have team success and have recognition for individual awards, and I\u2019m very proud of the work I did to make myself the best I could be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ablett paid tribute to his father for helping develop his love of the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was little, I knew dad played footy, but I didn\u2019t know how good he was at footy,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just knew enough to know that he played, so I wanted to kick a ball, play with a ball and compete with my brother in the back yard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so fortunate to have so much time as a little kid being around the change rooms and kicking a footy with senior players, because it\u2019s not until you\u2019re older that you realise something like that just never happens for kids, to develop your love for the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having won a second premiership at Geelong in 2009, Ablett made the stunning move to the Gold Coast ahead of the 2011 season in what was one of the biggest moves in history to serve as the Suns\u2019 inaugural captain.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the hardest decision I ever had to make, to leave the club I\u2019d barracked for all my life,\u201d Ablett said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really wanted to help develop the young people at Gold Coast as their captain, and obviously, it was an incredible opportunity for me to set myself up for life after footy.<\/p>\n
![\"MELBOURNE,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/8dd22868bfe381bd30451a861aac113721b6df0a.jpg\")
Camera IconMELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – JUNE 09: Craig Drummond – Chair of AFL Commission with Gary Ablett Jr. – Hall of Fame inductee during the 2026 Australian Football Hall of Fame at Crown Palladium on June 9, 2026 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Willson\/AFL Photos via Getty Images) Credit: Michael Willson\/AFL Photos\/AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a real growth period for me, but I also realised how privileged I had been at Geelong with so many leaders around me separate to the captains I had at the Cats.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have any regrets. I made the move, even though we didn\u2019t play finals while I was there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ablett returned to Geelong in 2018, but he would fall agonisingly short of a fairytale finish, injuring his shoulder in the 2020 grand final loss to Richmond.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I look back on it all now, I\u2019m really appreciative the Geelong footy club gave me a chance,\u201d is the Ablett overview of his time at the top in footy.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the opportunities and the experiences I had made me realise you have to embrace things in front of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
His induction followed that of Essendon legend Dustin Fletcher who cemented his status as one of the great AFL defenders.<\/p>\n
The pillar of endurance and possessing a booming right foot, Fletcher played 400 games for the Bombers across 23 seasons, with his first being part of the famous Baby Bombers in their 1993 triumph over Carlton.<\/p>\n
![\"MELBOURNE,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/28be79e774fb0caacbacd726634d8bd866c23f05.jpg\")
Camera IconMELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – JUNE 09: Dustin Fletcher – Hall of Fame inductee during the 2026 Australian Football Hall of Fame at Crown Palladium on June 9, 2026 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Willson\/AFL Photos via Getty Images) Credit: Michael Willson\/AFL Photos\/AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Seven years later, he would be part of one of the greatest teams ever assembled as Essendon went 24-1 en route to his second premiership and would continue on until past the age of 40.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need a little luck,\u201d he told AFl.com.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I had about 20 operations, but they were never big ones, so I kept my speed. And I probably treated AFL football a bit like local football.<\/p>\n
Fletcher attributed a bulk of his success to long-time coach Kevin Sheedy.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe loved people, but he had that stare, and he put that bit of fear into the opposition and sometimes our players as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just wanted to play well for him, and he gave me the confidence to play my game, which was great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still working for the club Fletcher has seen plenty of highs and lows at the Bombers but said he had no regrets from his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cYep, pretty special,\u201d he said. \u201cEspecially when you see some of the names on the list. I\u2019m just rapt the AFL made that decision,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen success and I\u2019ve seen tough times, but I absolutely love it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m proud of what my career looked like and what Essendon has done for me is very special. It means everything to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
2026 Australian Football Hall of Fame Inductees<\/p>\n
Tim Evans<\/p>\n
John Worsfold<\/p>\n
David Kantilla<\/p>\n
Hayden Kennedy<\/p>\n
Dustin Fletcher<\/p>\n
Gary Ablett Jnr<\/p>\n
Elevated to legend<\/p>\n
Bill Walker<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gary Ablett Jnr has waltzed into the Australian Football Hall of Fame at his first attempt, as Essendon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,11231,13659,588,85],"class_list":["post-725266","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-essendon-bombers","tag-geelong-cats","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725266","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=725266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}