Ablett’s outstanding decision for his future

Peter Farago
NATHAN Ablett has made a brave decision to stand out of the AFL indefinitely – but the right one.
The younger of two talented brothers plying their trade at Geelong Football Club has always been a reluctant star who seems to want to play for the enjoyment, more than as a career.
And in today’s cut-throat world of million-dollar television rights deals and a gambling industry on the side, playing for fun just isn’t enough for some players to survive.
Football is a serious business and is no longer a game.
Each player’s moves are analysed and dissected by a hungry media and an obsessed public, not to forget a club’s football department keen to squeeze every last drop of talent out of their playing stock, many teenagers barely out of school.
Nathan Ablett himself is an immense talent who has not avoided intense scrutiny.
Even in the finals series, the younger Ablett was the target of frustration as the Cats nearly fell in the preliminary final against Collingwood.
But three goals in a record-breaking defeat of Port Adelaide was enough to wipe away the forward’s indifferent form and support the Cats coaching panel’s patience toward him.
The road to get Nathan to play football was a long and arduous one for the Cats.
Enjoying a kick for Bellarine Football League’s Modewarre, Nathan would literally disappear upon mention that an AFL scout was in the outer.
Not that his game had gone to ground – he would simply not run out on the park after half-time.
That’s how far his love of the game went, it seems.
And that’s why he’s made the correct decision to stand out of the game for now.
He knows he’s got the talent. He knows what it feels like to reach the pinnacle of AFL football.
But he doesn’t know if he wants to continue in the rigours of top-flight football.
The Cats are obviously disappointed.
Their list is depleted one player – and a good one at that. And that makes a title defence that little bit harder.
But the club’s, at least public, demeanour toward its wayward talent needs to be acknowledged.
There’s been no public pressure on the player, except for some early speculation about his motives.
The mental state of players has become an issue in AFL clubs in the last few years.
Nathan Thompson brought it to the public’s attention when he admitted he was suffering depression while playing at Hawthorn.
And Jonathon Hay, another former Hawk, has admitted he battled demons in the lead-up to a decision to leave North Melbourne.
There’s no suggestion that Nathan Ablett is suffering any sort of illness.
But the club is right to give the player a chance to work out his future in his head in his own time.