GEELONG captain Tom Harley hopes watching his former teammates unfurl their 2007 premiership flag might inspire Nathan Ablett to return to the fold and again pull on the blue and white hoops.

Harley believes the 22-year-old, who has retired from AFL football but remains on Geelong's senior list, is missing elements of being a Cat.

The premiership skipper said Ablett, the younger brother of star midfielder Gary, was present for Sunday's game and watched as the club unfurled its flag marking last season's success in which he played a significant part.

"It was good to catch up with him, so hopefully he's thinking about coming back to play with us one day," Harley told SEN on Monday morning.

"He has been hanging around … after-hours at the footy club, so there's definitely still parts of the footy club that he still wants to be attached to.

"Maybe a day like yesterday, where he was in amongst all the guys and that kind of stuff, might whet his appetite even further."

Following the unfurling, the Cats kicked on to a 30-point win over Melbourne to make it three from three in 2008, despite trailing early against the bottom-of-the-ladder Demons.

However Harley said Geelong shouldn't lay blame for its slow start with the pre-match unfurling.

"I think if you're going to be a good side you've got to be able to be pretty flexible with things like that," he said.

"It was definitely different … our pre-game routine was a little bit thrown out the window.

"But I tell you what, some of the stuff was pretty spine-tingling stuff and I think at the end of the day you play to win flags and to unfurl one in front of your home crowd was something pretty special."