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REIGNING AFL Brownlow medallist Gary Ablett hopes to share the award next Monday night with former teammate Joel Selwood.
Ablett's record eighth-straight AFL All Australian selection has intensified speculation about whether he can earn the rare honour of becoming a triple Brownlow medallist.
Ablett, who was named as the All Australian rover on Tuesday night, was a $1.60 favourite with TAB to win his third Brownlow until round 16, when he suffered his season-ending shoulder injury.
With the Gold Coast captain only playing 15 rounds, his odds have drifted in what is now considered a wide-open count.
Selwood has taken over from Ablett in the Brownlow betting as the main favourite at $2.50.
The Geelong captain was named All Australian skipper on Monday night.
The pair played in the 2007 and '09 Geelong premiership teams before Ablett moved to Gold Coast.
"There are so many guys who have had consistent seasons and could potentially win it," Ablett said.
"I'd really love to see Joel get up and win one. He's a ripper footy player and a ripper guy.
"He deserves one ... I'm hoping for a draw."
But the ace onballer said he would not think too much about his chances before the night.
"I never get too nervous going in," he said. "It's one of those things you can't control.
"I'm sure if it gets towards the end of the count and it's close, I will get a little nervous like I was last year."
Likewise, Ablett is not thinking about the potential moniker of "triple Brownlow medallist", which only four other players have achieved.
"If you think of it like that, then you go into the night and you don't win, you come out really disappointed," he said.
"I just go in with no expectations.
"Football's just a game, as much as I love it. The individual awards don't define you as a person."
Joel Selwood, Gary Ablett and Jordan Lewis in their All Australian blazers. Picture: AFL Media
The champion midfielder was a unanimous choice by the nine All Australian selectors and joins his father Gary Ablett snr and four other players with eight selections in the team. Five players have nine.
Ablett, who is in the middle of contract negotiations with the Suns, said he had used the time off since his injury to freshen up before attacking pre-season training.
"I kind of had a break for seven weeks," he told AFL.com.au on Tuesday night. "As much as I was still around the club, around the boys, I think physically and probably mentally as well I feel like I've had a break.
"I am kind of excited about jumping back into pre-season, so I'll do whatever I can now and make sure that I'm doing all my shoulder exercises to strengthen it up.
"I haven't started running yet, but I shouldn't be too far away.
"It was always going to be a slow process and I'll be ready to go round one next year."
Ablett’s Suns faded badly after the 30-year-old went down injured, losing six of their last seven games to miss out on an historic first finals series.
"We were disappointed, there was no doubt that. We had a great opportunity to play finals footy this year and the first 15 or 16 rounds we put ourselves in a good position and just didn't finish off," Ablett said.
"I think that was for many reasons, I think the boys' bodies were a little bit fatigued.
"Maybe we just went into games thinking it was just going to happen because we had such a good run home.
"We'll learn so much from that. We'll take that into next pre-season and make sure that we step it up.
"We'll train harder, get the boys stronger and we're looking forward to hopefully playing finals footy in 2015."
Twitter: @TravKing_AFL
