COVID-19 ready, this AFL season still has three turbulent and extremely unforeseeable months to run. I suspect it has actually currently produced its most powerful and symbolic image.
It is not the stereotyped back page image of a gamer increasing over a pack to take a soaring mark or an iconic act such as Nicky Winmar’s bold “black and proud” gesture.
The photo was not even taken by an expert photographer but shared on Instagram by a family that is both extremely happy and under terrific emotional tension.
The image that will symbolise this unusual disrupted season is that of Geelong champion Gary Ablett Jr holding his child in his arms at the airport at the weekend after his premature return from the group’s Perth hub.
It is a heart-warming image although, sadly, it is the backstory that lifts it from the pages of the Ablett household album to the centre of our existing sporting awareness.
Eighteen month-old Levi Ablett suffers an unusual degenerative illness, while his mom, Jordan, is looking after her own mom who has cancer. This prompted the 36- year-old Geelong star to leave quarantine in Perth and take a trip home to his family
Under such scenarios, the Abl