Gary Ablett hasn't closed the door on continuing his career with Gold Coast next year, but says he will "pretty much" retire from the AFL or return to play in Victoria.
The Suns' inaugural captain says he will make a definitive decision about his future at the end of the season and could stay on the Coast if some personal issues are resolved.
"I don't know what 2018 looks like for me. For personal reasons, for family reasons, I just need to work out where everything is sitting in my life at that time," said Ablett on Tuesday ahead of his 100th game for Gold Coast.
His future at the club has been under speculation since he requested a trade back to his former club Geelong late last year and last Thursday he spoke to Nine Network's Footy Show about his plans.
"I thought I was honest with the football club and the media about the reasons why I requested a move back to Geelong," Ablett said.
"That was for family reasons."
On Tuesday he confirmed if his personal issues were not resolved by the end of the year he would "pretty much" retire or move to Victoria.
Ablett is playing his 16th year in the AFL - four times more than the average length of career and he does see the benefit of retirement.
"I've got some other things I'm super passionate about in my life," Ablett said.
"I'd like to spend a bit more time with my family. I'm not going to go into (detail about retirement plans) now but I've definitely got some things ready to go for when I retire."
The two-time premiership winning player says that if he can work through some of his personal issues there is "without a doubt" a possibility of playing for the Suns in 2018.
"I'm really enjoying myself up here," Ablett said.
"It shows on the weekend we can play a good brand of football, if we can play like that every week we're going to be a very competitive side."
In round four against Carlton, the former Cat will play game 292 in the AFL and will become the Suns' fifth player to reach 100 games for the club.
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