At times during the AFL off-season, you can forget how good a footballer really is.

Without the game being played out in front of you it’s easy to have a ‘Top 50’, predicted ladder or a highlight reel running through your mind in place of the real thing.

It’s easy to think of a player at his best, and wonder if he might soon become the greatest in the game.

Most footy followers headed into this season knowing Gary Ablett was the best in the competition, but wondered if there might be another who might reach his level.

Could Patrick Dangerfield consistently turn in the type of performance that almost won his side an unlikely place in the Grand Final last year?

Would Lance Franklin kick 100 goals again and prove to be the most damaging force in the competition once more?

After finishing runner-up in last year’s Brownlow Medal, was 22-year-old Trent Cotchin about to take another huge step up?

Round 1 of the 2013 AFL season arrived, and by Saturday night all AFL followers had been given a reality check. It didn’t take Ablett long to remind us all he was still the king.

In a match-winning performance, the little master had 34 disposals, nine clearances, six inside 50s and four goals. The Suns had trailed at three quarter time but thanks to Ablett’s brilliance finished all over the Saints.

Ablett continued his dominance as the season wore on, averaging more than 30 possessions per game; it’s the fifth consecutive season he has achieved this feat.

If there was one game that encapsulated his year, it was the Round 17 clash with Collingwood. Having won 10 games for the season so far, the Magpies sat just a game and a half outside the top four; they headed into the match against the Suns as overwhelming favourites. In their previous meeting – in Round 10, 2012 – Ablett had amassed 53 possessions, yet his side was belted by 97 points.

Things were different this time around. Ablett dominated again – racking up 49 possessions, 10 clearances and two goals – but dragged a few teammates along with him. Gold Coast played the best game of its short existence and after a tense last quarter emerged victorious by seven points.

After Ablett’s 53-possession match against the Pies in 2012 some commentators suggested the younger Suns mightn’t have benefited from Ablett having so much of the ball. There were no such suggestions this time around.

The former Cat was instrumental in the Suns’ other six wins this season. He had a combined 65 touches and seven goals in Gold Coast’s two triumphs over Greater Western Sydney, and 57 disposals and 11 inside 50s in the two victories against Melbourne.

His 33 classy disposals helped the Suns get over the Kangaroos in Round 11, while his 31 possessions and nine marks against the Bulldogs in Round 8 proved just as valuable.

In 2012 discussions about Ablett’s place in history began to heat up. It was almost unthinkable, but had he become better than his father, who was arguably the most brilliant footballer in the history of the game? Where did Ablett Jnr rank alongside the game’s great midfielders? Chris Judd was considered the player of his era a few years earlier, but in many peoples’ eyes, Ablett has gone past him.

That Ablett was able to live up to his extraordinary reputation this season is, at the very least, impressive. The fact he went beyond that, and might have even got better? Simply remarkable.

Each September allows a new breed of players to build a reputation on the biggest stage. The efforts of this year’s finalists will invariably linger longest in our minds over summer. But in the lead-up to season 2014, don’t forget about Ablett. His brilliance continues to surprise us and will do so again.

It’s difficult to envisage how he could get better, but in all likelihood his team will. This time next year we could be watching Ablett add another chapter to his legacy, as he leads his young Suns into their first finals series. He’s a chance to pick up a few more individual awards along the way, but the game’s best player will have his heart set solely on team success.

It might be a bold suggestion, but putting limits on what Ablett could achieve would be even bolder.