Gary Ablett has been voted by his peers as the AFL’s most valuable player for a record fifth time, but says in his mind his dad still remains the game’s greatest ever.
But those looking to make the case that Ablett Jr now deserves that title certainly have plenty of evidence.
The Suns skipper won the AFL players’ association MVP award on Tuesday night for the second straight year.
He also won it three consecutive years with Geelong from 2007-09, during which time he was also part of two premierships.
No other player has won the award more than twice, with Carlton’s Chris Judd and former greats Greg Williams, Wayne Carey and Michael Voss the other multiple winners.
Ablett, 29, is also the hot favourite to win his second Brownlow Medal later in September, to go with the 2009 award he won while playing with the Cats.
He’s also won five club best and fairest awards, two with the Cats and all three in the Suns’ history.
He won Tuesday night’s award by a staggering margin, polling 1479 votes, more than 1000 clear of the runner-up, Geelong captain Joel Selwood (475), under a system in which every AFL player votes on a 3-2-1 basis.
His father, Gary Ablett Sr, is widely regarded as one of the game’s greatest ever players and while he never won a premiership or a Brownlow Medal, Ablett Jr said in his mind dad was still No.1.
“I’ve said it so many times – in my opinion he’s the greatest player to play the game,” Ablett said.
It’s a topic the pair have joked about on occasion.
“It’s always a bit of fun. The thing is, when he’s joking around, most of the things he says are true,” Ablett said.
While noting he could still improve his leadership, Ablett is proud of the job he’s doing as Suns captain, particularly given there were questions when he left Geelong about how he would fare without established champions around him.
“I guess I wanted to prove people wrong in a way,” Ablett said.
His next aim is to guide the Suns, 14th this year, to their maiden finals appearance next season and ultimately a premiership.
Selwood was named the competition’s best captain and also won the most courageous player award for the third time.
Gold Coast’s Jaeger O’Meara was named best first year player.