Former AFL superstar Gary Ablett Jr has opened up about the pressures he faced growing up as the son of Gary Ablett Sr, revealing how close he came to walking away from football altogether. Ablett Jr said he nearly pursued a career in professional surfing during his teenage years, instead of following in his father’s footsteps in the AFL.
His upbringing came during a period when his father’s off-field controversies were frequently in the spotlight, placing added attention on the family and shaping his early experiences in the game. The two-time Brownlow medallist is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in AFL history, but has acknowledged that the scrutiny surrounding his father during those formative years played a role in how he viewed football as a teenager.
In a stunning revelation, Ablett Jr said he nearly walked away from the sport before his career even took off. 'Through my teenage years - and a lot of people don't know this - but I actually lost interest in footy,' he told Triple M. 'There was a twelve-month period where I wanted to be a pro surfer. I worked out pretty quickly I wasn't good enough to make it,' Ablett continued. 'At 16, I was invited to the Geelong Falcons to try out but I wasn't sure whether football was what I wanted to do with my life.'
The 357-game veteran played the majority of his career with the Geelong Cats, but also enjoyed a decent stint at the Gold Coast Suns. Gary Ablett Sr was involved in several controversies within his AFL career. In 2000, he pleaded guilty to multiple drug offences after 20-year-old Alisha Horan died in a Geelong hotel room from an overdose. The woman passed away after a five-day drug and alcohol binge with Ablett, with a coroner finding that the former star failed to protect her. In 2017, Ablett Sr was investigated over allegations that he sexually assaulted a 55-year-old woman in the late 1970s. Police eventually dropped the investigation after ruling there wasn't enough evidence to press charges.
