B: Adam Kennedy, Tim Mohr, Lachie Plowman
HB: Nick Haynes, Phil Davis, Sam Reid
C: Tom Scully, Callan Ward, Lachie Whitfield
HF: Rhys Palmer, Jeremy Cameron, Adam Tomlinson
F: Devon Smith, Setanta O'hAilpin, Zachary Williams
Foll: Jonathan Giles, Adam Treloar, Dylan Shiel
I/C: Stephen Coniglio, Toby Greene, Tomas Bugg, Bret Thornton
Emg: Curtley Hampton, Jacob Townsend, Sam Frost
Gold Coast
B: Trent McKenzie, Steven May, Jack Hutchins
HB: Thomas Murphy, Rory Thompson, Greg Broughton
C: Michael Rischitelli, Gary Ablett, Jarrod Harbrow
HF: Danny Stanley, Thomas Lynch, Aaron Hall
F: Zac Smith, Sam Day, Brandon Matera
Foll: Charlie Dixon, Karmichael Hunt, David Swallow
I/C: Dion Prestia, Jaeger O'Meara, Jared Brennan, Matt Shaw
Emerg: Kyal Horsley, Luke Russell, Tim Sumner
First Bounce: 1.45pm AEST Venue: Startrack Oval Last Time: Suns 16.13 (109) bt Giants 12.7 (79) at Metricon Stadium History: GWS Giants 1, Gold Coast 1 Betting: $2.90 Giants, $1.44 Suns TV: Channel Seven (LIVE), Fox Footy (LIVE)
The Gold Coast Suns and GWS Giants will play in a match between the AFL’s two most recent expansion teams. Join our live blog with scores and commentary from 1.45pm AEST.
While many experts tipped the Giants to go past the Suns this year as the better team the season hasn’t played out that way thus far.
The Suns have had some good early season results with a win against St Kilda and admirable efforts against Brisbane and Sydney before last week’s 38-point loss to Port Adelaide.
On the other hand the Giants put in a decent performance versus the Swans in Round 1 but have struggled since then, culminating in allowing the Demons to kick 12 goals in the final term last week to give up a 19-point three-quarter time advantage.
This match therefore will be an indicator of whether GWS will go through the second-year blues or will continue to build on their solid base from last year.
While the Giants were overrun by a previously pathetic Melbourne they will have confidence that they can play out the four quarters against the Suns after they outscored Gold Coast by 31-points in the fourth quarter of the inaugural meeting between these teams.
Another twisted positive is Jonathon Patton didn’t play in the Giants’ win against Gold Coast last year, showing GWS can get the job done without their big forward.
Patton will miss the rest of the season after he tore his ACL in Round 3.
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Gold Coast suffered a loss at the other end of the ground with Matthew Warnock breaking his arm in the loss to the Power.
In a team also missing former All-Australian defender Nathan Bock this could be a big blow, with a shortage of options to match-up on Jeremy Cameron, Setanta O’hAilpin and Jonathan Giles when he plays forward.
Gary Ablett will be the obvious concern for the Giants.
Despite injuring his hand against the Lions he managed 35 disposals against Port Adelaide the following week.
While a more even spread is ideal for the Suns to win Ablett showed against the Saints that he can drag his team to victory.