Nathan Ablett looms as the wildcard in Gold Coast's audacious bid to make his brother Gary the marquee player of their AFL debut.

The club-in-waiting have sent a chill through Geelong after confirmation of their meeting with the Brownlow medallist and two-time premiership player.

Gary Ablett's playing future is sure to be one of the biggest football stories of 2010 as he comes out of contract at the end of the season, with Gold Coast entering the competition the following year.

Gold Coast have already recruited younger brother Nathan, who had quit the league after the siblings were part of the Cats' historic 2007 premiership team.

While Nathan has obvious untapped potential, Gary is Gold Coast's No.1 recruiting target.

They will be able to offer much more money than Geelong, with any multi-year offer set to be worth more than $1 million per season.

Geelong's obvious attraction to Ablett is his family's strong ties to the club, starting with his famous father, Gary Snr.

But Gold Coast's recruiting of Nathan is clearly a lot more than recycling a young key forward who had opted out of the AFL.

Ablett's signing would be a massive coup for the new club, which has also recruited NRL star Karmichael Hunt.

Gary and his manager met with Gold Coast officials on Sunday at Broadbeach.

Several Port Adelaide players were staying at the same apartments while on a training camp and the low-key meeting became public once they saw Ablett talking to Gold Coast personnel.

Ablett was at Geelong training on Tuesday and the club was saying little about the meeting.

"He's still a Cats player, we're hopeful of keeping him beyond then (the end of next season)," a club spokesman said.

There is little that Geelong can do to stop Ablett talking to Gold Coast.

Essendon coach Matthew Knights made it clear on Tuesday morning that he would be unimpressed if one of his players was speaking to Gold Coast.

"I would probably be grossly disappointed," Knights told radio station SEN.

"If you're in a program and young Patrick (Ryder) was up there talking to the Gold Coast, while you're in program and the day before you may have been looking into his eyes in the team meeting ... I think that would be grossly disappointing and it's something we've got to be so careful with.

"I think players have just got to be mindful of that."

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