THERE'S no reason Gary Ablett won't be one of the best players in the competition again.
Maybe not his dizzying Brownlow Medal heights, but a man still capable of winning matches off his own boot and regularly dragging his team to victory.
Forget the questions over his future, the suggestions he should be traded, the fact he's undergoing a second shoulder surgery in two years and that he might not captain Gold Coast next season.
The dual-Brownlow medalist will see surgeon Greg Hoy in Melbourne on Monday to discuss his options.
Hoy reconstructed the same shoulder after it was dislocated in a tackle by Magpie Brent Macaffer in 2014.
Just as there was on that occasion, Ablett will be presented with a number of surgical options.
Two years ago, he could have taken a quick-fix 'wash out' and been back playing within a month.
Wisely, he chose the bigger picture.
Depending on the severity of the surgery, Ablett could be back to full strength and doing contact work in somewhere from three to six months – plenty of time for the 2017 season.
In the meantime, he can recover, rehabilitate and keep his legs strong. He will be at the first day of Gold Coast's pre-season training in November.
As Suns coach Rodney Eade noted in his weekly press conference on Thursday, the players that tend to fall away quickest are those who have leg injuries, because they lose their speed and ability to run and remain fit.
Ablett, now 32, had knee surgery at this time last year and a foot setback during the pre-season, but was fit and strong for round one.
Ablett puts his heart and soul into the Suns' song after a recent win. Picture: AFL Media
This will be his second major shoulder surgery, but it's not as if players haven't overcome this before.
The man that comes closest to Ablett's tag as the greatest player of the post-2000 era, Chris Judd, had four shoulder surgeries and was still going strong late in his career.
Perhaps the bigger question for Ablett comes mentally.
How much does the game really mean to him these days?
Married less than 12 months ago, the normally reserved Ablett seems happier, more approachable and generally more content with his life.
He said earlier this year the game didn't mean absolutely everything to him, as it may have done once.
Still, until injuring his shoulder late last week against the Lions, the champion midfielder had missed just one game, through concussion, in 2016, and was in the midst of a strong season.
His leadership had gone up a level after teammates demanded more of him.
But only Ablett can answer if yet another operation and painful rehabilitation will dampen the legendary drive and desire which have kept him near the top of the tree, among the best in the game for a decade.
He cares for the club and was back in there this week riding a stationary bike to keep fit.
Ablett shares a moment with Nick Malceski at the MCG against Richmond. Picture: AFL Media
Take no notice of the pundits who doubt Ablett. If they cared to visit the Gold Coast even occasionally, they’d see a champion passionate about his club, his teammates and his game.
Ask Aaron Hall about the one-on-one tutelage last pre-season that helped elevate his game. Or Jesse Lonergan about the post-training instructions on how to move his body around a stoppage.
Tom Lynch or Steven May look likely replacements as captain in 2017, and perhaps that lesser burden will be enough to drag Ablett back to the top.
Whether that's in the midfield, forward or both, Eade and Ablett will have to figure out.
Just like the man himself, the fallout from this injury is complex, but Ablett came to Gold Coast to play finals and win a premiership, and there's no reason he can't at least drive it closer to that in the next two years.
