EVERY time the thought floats into my mind I find myself doing a mental ‘don’t be stupid, it can’t be possible’ internal rebuke. Surely a once-in-a-generation talent cannot have a son in the same class.

Despite my misgivings that this idea is stretching the realms of possibilities, the fact is this nagging concept keeps popping up more often.

Is it possible that Gary Ablett Jr could be as good as Gary Ablett Sr?

Even saying the words is a kind of football heresy, akin to claiming that Makybe Diva is a better horse than Phar Lap or that Roger Federer is better than Rod Laver.

I was watching Ablett Jr cruise around the field, seemingly getting the ball at will against the Adelaide Crows last Saturday night. He looked in such complete control of the game, unflustered and unstoppable.

While he handled the ball an amazing 46 times, one piece of play highlighted his immense talent.

At one stage Ablett had a set shot for goal on the boundary line in AAMI Stadium’s notorious dead pocket. That’s to the right on the TV screen on the side closest to the cameras. Goals just don’t get scored from deep in that pocket.

He was hemmed in with his natural right foot to the boundary. A quick look to assess his options and a quick decision to head inboard away from the boundary – to open up the angle that crucial few degrees. He then laid the ball across his non-dominant left boot and produced an exquisite curling trajectory which split the middle.

It was a beautiful execution of an incredibly difficult kick.

The thought entered my mind again as it has a bit recently. Surely he could not be as good as his dad – or could he?

In a team sport, being considered the most valuable is the ultimate playing accolade – and I could never go past Wayne Carey in this regard.

However for most talented, most freakish, for possessing every skill that a footballer can exhibit, Gary Ablett Sr is clearly top of the tree.

What he could do on a football field was at a rarefied level of which us mere mortals could only dream.

Buddy Franklin on his best days comes close but he still has only done it on a few occasions when Ablett Sr did it regularly over a long career.

The goal that Ablett Jr kicked last Saturday was so reminiscent of how his dad would have done it when faced with the same task. Physically the two are different size and shape and play different positions on the field. The genius of turning half chances into goals is a shared ability.

Both father and son had/have a great understanding of the game; its angles, its intricacies. They both exhibit fantastic onfield football thinking and game sense.

There is of course no definitive answer to the “who is best” question but to even give it a second thought is an enormous pat on the back to the still-only-24-year-old Ablett Jr.

I can still not bring myself to think that junior is better than senior but I have a feeling that it is a question we will be seriously discussing more and more in the future.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.