Gold Coast superstar Gary Ablett will on Monday night almost certainly become the first AFL player to make the All Australian team seven times straight.

It’s a tribute not only to the 29-year-old’s sheer brilliance but also to his extraordinary consistency and durability.

Ablett has made the honorary team every season from 2007 onwards, including being named vice-captain in 2010 and 2012 and captain in 2011.

Since the concept of naming an official All Australian team, or team of the year, started in 1980, Ablett is one of just four players to have achieved the honour six times in succession.

The others are Carlton’s Stephen Kernahan, St Kilda’s two-time Brownlow Medallist Robert Harvey and Collingwood’s Nathan Buckley.

North Melbourne great Wayne Carey achieved the feat in seven of eight seasons from 1993-2000, but missed out in 1997 when a shoulder injury cost him a big chunk of the season.

Ablett can expect a seventh straight nod on Monday night, after a season in which he averaged 31 touches and led the Suns’ goal-kicking.

He was last week named the AFL players’ association’s most valuable player for the fifth time and is favoured to claim his second Brownlow next week.

Selectors announced a 40-man All Australian squad in early September, from which Monday night’s 22 will be selected.

It included five players from each of the top four clubs Hawthorn, Geelong, Fremantle and Sydney.

Collingwood’s Dane Swan is vying for his fifth straight appearance.