By Luke Voogt
Truck drivers honked their horns as Gary Ablett addressed the media in front of a sign welcoming him home on the Geelong Ring Road.
Ablett chuckled at truckies and admitted his teammates had given him a bit of stick over the attention he had received since returning.
“That’s all part of the fun,” he said on Tuesday
The sign has promoted gay marriage and been the target of vandals, now it greets Geelong’s favourite son with the words “Welcome Home Gaz”.
“They got it all up pretty quickly,” he said.
Ablett was “stoked” to be home with family and back at the club that he grew up supporting.
“I can pick up the phone and I’m only a three minute drive from where my mum’s living,” he said.
“My Dad’s back in Geelong which is great.”
Ablett admitted he had lost his enjoyment of football at times since moving to the Gold Coast seven years ago.
“I’m a very competitive person and I like to win footy games.”
But he had not lost the taste for coastal living.
“My family’s down in Torquay so (my wife and I are) looking around at the moment,” he said.
Ablett said his body was feeling great, despite his injury-plagued run with the Suns.
“I’m just going to be smarter in the way I go about things.”
He looked forward to bolstering the Cats already dangerous midfield, mentoring the club’s rookies and spending time up forward.
Cats fans will have high expectations given his father Gary Ablett Senior kicked 100 goals three seasons in row after he returned from retirement.
“He’s told me about that a few times,” Ablett laughed.
