THERE is an exception to every rule, and Gary Ablett is the exception.

Allow yourself to cast your mind to Round 1, 2018. In the middle at the opening bounce is Patrick Dangerfield and Joel Selwood.

On the half-forward line is Gary Ablett, in a redefined role, where his midfield time is limited to allow him to finish his career as a dangerous forward.

Ablett will be 33 by then. His days as an outright onballer would be numbered but there would still be a place in the Geelong side for one of the greatest players the game has seen.

And there is the romanticism of it — the favourite son with the famous name returning home to finish his career where it all started.

Bringing in 33-year-olds is not often wise list management, but this is Gary Ablett. This isn’t any player.

The Cats’ list will still be in the hitting zone for another premiership and Ablett, even in the twilight zone of his career, would complement that, perhaps even win a few games by himself as a 50-goal-a-year forward.

It may only be a two-year venture at best, but if the logistics surrounding contracts and trades can be worked out, and if he is prepared to cut his wage in half, then Geelong would be crazy not to explore it from a football and commercial view point.

Geelong would have to sell it to Gold Coast as a way for the Suns to remove $1 million off their books, allowing the Queensland club to target the next superstar who will be there for the next decade.

And after all, Ablett’s position at the Suns may very well be untenable by then given this week’s stunning revelations.

Brian Cook would be rubbing his hands together at the thought of how much Ablett merchandise the Cats could sell, head of commercial Justin Reeves could set his membership target as high as he liked, Chris Scott would have another star at his disposal and the club’s young players would have another elite mentor to look up to and learn from.

Look at Corey Enright for example. At 35, he finished third in the club’s best-and-fairest and the Cats were desperately hoping he would play on next year.

Sam Mitchell, at 34, has just been recruited by West Coast and Brent Harvey, at 38, was, at times, still one of North Melbourne’s best players.

Ablett cannot be begrudged for the move he made after 2010 when he was wrenched from Geelong by the opportunity of a lifetime that was too good to refuse at Gold Coast.

The Suns sold him the dream: rolling million-dollar contracts, the chance to captain a start-up club and help lead the best young players in the country on an upward journey to a planned premiership dynasty.

While Ablett held up his end of the deal by playing sublime levels of football in a side he single-handedly carried, the club fell apart around him as disenfranchised players left, the coach was sacked and, six years on, still finished 15th on the ladder.

All while a club that was born a year later, Greater Western Sydney, gave the premiership a nudge in its fifth year and seemingly sits poised for a sustained run at the top.

No wonder he wants to come home. And Geelong should be opening up its arms for him.