Jimmy Bartel Speaks Out About Gary Ablett's Future

Bartel has weighed in


Article heading image for Jimmy Bartel Speaks Out About Gary Ablett's Future

Gary Ablett’s ex-teammate and great mate Jimmy Bartel has had his say on Ablett’s future.

Speaking on Fairfax Media about Ablett’s Footy Show interview, Bartel said that the little master will either be at Geelong or out of footy next year.

“Yeah I think so (that it’s Geelong or bust for Ablett next year), that was the biggest thing I took away from it,” Bartel said.

“You can just listen to the language. ‘I’m 100% committed to this year, I’ll give it my all’, and people remember that he’s contracted for the following year after it.”

Bartel felt that Ablett was trying to outmanoeuvre the Suns.

“He’s forcing Gold Coast’s hand — ‘make a deal or I’ll retire’,” he said.

“It’d be pretty nervous for Mark Evans up there being the new boss up there, do you let him go for nothing and call his bluff and see if he retires or do you try and get the best deal available to get him back to Geelong.”

Bartel felt the talk around Ablett’s body language and commitment was over the top.

“I was a bit miffed by the actual analysis on his performance,” Bartel said.

“They got beaten by 102 points. There’s 21 other blokes who didn’t show up at all, they didn’t even get off the bus.

“The fact is Gary’s Gary and he’s gonna draw the attention, he understands that.”

“Round one I think might have polled eight votes in the coach’s award and nearly been best on ground in the Q Clash, so it’s one bad week.”

“The man’s played nearly 300 games of football, 290 of those he’s had over 30 possessions so I think we can give him a little bit of a pass on this one.”

Bartel also felt that the Cats would definitely find a way to get a deal done.

“It’s Gary Ablett Jr. No matter where you rank him, anybody has got him in their top five best players of all time,” he said.

“He’s an exception to the rule. He’s one of the greats.”

8 April 2017




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