The term one man team has been around since Julius Caesar was the star player in the Ancient Roman football team, but AFL star Gary Ablett has taken the term to a whole new level during his stint with the Gold Coast Suns.
Now that Ablett has been ruled out of the AFL indefinitely due to a shoulder injury, the other 21 players in the Suns side will need to quickly discover how to play football in order to avoid the side claiming their second ever wooden spoon.
The Gold Coast Suns may be the standout for one man armies, but there are a number of other athletes that absolutely carry their sides chances whenever they head out onto the field.
Gary Ablett and the Gold Coast Suns 
There is no doubt that Gary Ablett is the best player in the AFL and he has only enhanced his reputation since he left Geelong to join the Gold Coast Suns in 2011.
Since the Suns entered the AFL, they have won only one game without Ablett in the side and the talented midfielder was able to win the 2013 Brownlow Medal despite the Suns finishing the season in 14th position.
The Suns looked on track to make a run for the finals in 2014, but they completely fell apart after Ablett suffered a season-ending injury against Collingwood in round 16 and it is fair to say that former Suns coach Guy McKenna would have kept his job if Ablett had played out the entire season.
Without Gary Ablett the Suns are a joke and it is tough to see them winning a game until Gablett returns to action.
Johnathan Thurston and the North Queensland Cowboys 
Johnathan Thurston is the best player in the NRL and he has single-handily changed the Cowboys from the joke of the competition into a genuine Premiership contender.
In their first ten years of existence without Thurston in the side, the Cowboys qualified for the finals just once and won the wooden spoon on three occasions, but with Thurston guiding the ship they played in the 2005 NRL Grand Final and have made the finals on six occasions.
Anybody that has ever watched a Cowboys game can tell how important Thurston is to the side, but their stats without Thurston are simply laughable and the Cowboys have won less than 30 percent of their matches without their leader in the side in recent years.
A Thurston injury will see the Cowboys absolutely plummet down the table.
Nelson Muntz and the Springfield Wildcats
Concerned parents of Springfield set up a pee-wee football team in 1997 due to the poor fitness levels of the towns youth and the standout for the side was clearly Nelson Muntz.
Muntz played quarterback for the Springfield Wildcats and he was a legitimate dual-threat that was even able to inspire his offensive line with aggressive blocking and catch his own passes.
Muntz led the Wildcats to an undefeated start to the season and his worth to the side was clearly evident when he was removed from the quarterback position by coach Homer Simpson and placed on the bench.
Eventually Muntz was able to win back his starting role and he led the Wildcats to a victory over Capitol City in the Championship game and stamp himself as one of the most promising young football players in the United States.
Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers 
The Cleveland Cavaliers have long been a basket case in the NBA and they have never won a Championship, but their fortunes were turned around when they were able to draft Lebron James before the start of the 2003/2004 season.
James was quickly able turn the Cavaliers around and despite have little talent around him, he was able to carry the Cavaliers into the playoffs on five occasions and took them all the way to the NBA Finals in 2007.
James eventually became frustrated with his side inability to win an NBA Championship and he elected to sign with the Miami Heat where he won two NBA Championships, while the Cavaliers were unable to post his winning record in his absence and won just 19 games in their first season without James.
The Cavaliers were able to resign James ahead of the 2014/2015 NBA season and, mainly thanks to James, the side are now a genuine chance to win the first NBA Championship in franchise history.
Chris Gayle and the West Indies Cricket Team 
The West Indies were the dominant cricket team of the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s and had a team packed full of talent, but now only have one man that can be considered a world class star.
Chris Gayle never really seems like he cares to match and he has been criticised for his attitude to cricket, but that has not stopped him being the clear standout in the West Indies side and at times he has almost single-handily carried them to Test Match wins as well as the 2012 Twenty20 World Cup.
Gayle’s explosive ability with the bat was on display during the 2015 Cricket World Cup when he became the first player in World Cup history to score a double century, which made him the only player in history to hit a triple hundred in Tests, double hundred in ODIs and a hundred in Twenty20 Internationals.
Imagine how good Gayle could be if he actually tried!
William Wallace And The Scottish Army 
We simply couldn’t write an article about one man armies and not mention William Wallace and the Scottish Army.
The Scottish Army were considered to be about as woeful as the Gold Coast Suns without Gary Ablett leading into the First War Of Scottish Independence, but Wallace was able to inspire his side to massive victory over the English led by King Edward I.
We are not sure if Wallace had any talent on the sporting field, but I am sure that any sporting team would love to have a player with the strength, leadership ability and toughness of Braveheart!