PDA

View Full Version : Suns sign Ablett for 5 years



Boofhead
29-09-10, 03:35 PM
Geelong's Gary Ablett moves from Cats to Gold Coast Suns in five-year deal
September 29, 2010

Superstar midfielder Gary Ablett has quit Geelong to join Gold Coast Suns, signing a five-year deal with the AFL newcomers.

The Suns confirmed the deal at a media conference in Melbourne on Wednesday, but club chief executive Travis Auld described reports of Ablett's contract being worth $9.5 million as "crazy numbers, and I hope Gary's not been reading those".

Auld would not confirm the value of the deal, however, saying "we will not discuss details of contracts of amounts".

Auld described the signing of Ablett as the "most exciting day in the history of this football club", while Suns coach Guy McKenna said he was particularly pleased to have the two-time premiership winner on the Gold Coast roster because of the player's "training ethic and professionalism".

Ablett said at the news conference that he had quit Geelong because "it was time for a fresh, new challenge".

"I perform my best when faced with a new challenge," he said of the opportunity to "shape and develop a young, talented playing group, one that has potential to be very successful and achieve great things."

Ablett acknowledged that he was being well paid, with the deal from cashed-up Gold Coast believed to have dwarfed the Cats' contract offer of around $A800,000-$A900,000 a year.

"I don't shy away from the fact the money's attractive, especially for a player at my stage of his career," he said.

"Money is a big part of why I've moved, but at the same time it's not the only reason.

"But the challenge of reinventing myself both personally and on the football field is far more exciting to me.

"I'm looking forward to the new challenge, it's a club starting from scratch, and that's something that appealed to me."

Ablett described the decision to move from Geelong as "incredibly difficult", and said that he had finally made up his mind only on Tuesday after a break on Hamilton Island.

"I gave my all for Geelong, and will be forever grateful for the support of the Geelong Football Club and its many great fans who have been such a huge part of life," he said of a playing career that delivered two premierships and a Brownlow Medal.

"But now this is all about the challenge of joining a new team, and a new and unique opportunity to be part of something special in football."

Geelong chief executive Brian Cook had earlier confirmed after a meeting on Wednesday morning with Ablett's manager, Liam Pickering, that the Brownlow Medal winner had left the Cats.

Cook said that Geelong could not match the offer the Suns had put before Ablett.

"We felt there was a good chance he'd stay given our offer would have made him probably one of the top five paid players in the AFL," Cook said.

"We've probably been blown out of the water.

"Our offer's probably been doubled by the Gold Coast, which has made it pretty much impossible for us to keep him."

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou, meanwhile, described what had then been reported as being a $9.5 million deal as "incomprehensible, completely exaggerated".

"Those sorts of numbers would be completely exaggerated because it is just incomprehensible under our salary-cap provisions for a player to be earning 25 per cent of the cap," Demetriou said.

"So I wouldn't give any credence or credibility to those numbers.

"They are completely, if it is true that he's going there, they are completely out of the ballpark."

Ablett is the sixth uncontracted player to join the Suns, after Jarrod Harbrow, Michael Rischitelli, Nathan Bock and Nathan Krakouer, and Campbell Brown.

He is thought likely to claim the captaincy alongside former Hawthorn player Brown.

The Cats will receive two first-round picks as compensation for losing Ablett to the expansion club.

Cook described the loss of Ablett as "quite devastating, very disappointing".

"But it's not as though we haven't planned for it," he said.

"We've gone to the AFL and the increased compensation we'd get if Gary left.

"We do have a pretty strong team at the moment. It has 13 other All-Australian footballers in it.

"It's something we didn't want to happen, but it has happened and we get on with life."

Geelong are also poised to lose dual premiership coach Mark Thompson, who has told the Cats he may not see out the last year of his contract in 2011 because of "burnout''.

Thompson, 46, has been granted compassionate leave, citing tiredness and burnout, as Essendon and new coach James Hird circle.

Geelong continue to accept Thompson's assurances that he won't return to Windy Hill, but the Bombers want him - particularly Hird, who played in Essendon's 1993 premiership team under his captaincy.

Geelong's coach of the past 11 seasons was given indefinite leave on Tuesday after meeting club officials at Skilled Stadium.

But Cook said the club needed a decision within a week or would be forced to seek a replacement.

AAP

Cowboy Titan
29-09-10, 03:41 PM
A great signing for the Suns but it won't leave alot of cash for the other 25 or 30 players they have to sign. It takes more than one player to win a comp.

Boofhead
29-09-10, 03:57 PM
A great signing for the Suns but it won't leave alot of cash for the other 25 or 30 players they have to sign. It takes more than one player to win a comp.
Not to mention blowing a fair chunk of it on Khunt as well.

I guess it's something for them to build on, not bad for a new club to sign the best player in the game. You only need to go to the nearest sports forum, website, magazine, newspaper to see how much hype it is generating for the Suns.

Once they actually get the Carrara stadium up and going, I will probably make one of their games!