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The off-season coaching purge has claimed its first victim, with Gold Coast mentor Guy McKenna sacked by the club, just a few weeks after they missed the AFL finals.
The Suns fell away in the last part of the season, after their early form put them on track for their first top eight finish since their entry into the club four years ago.
McKenna has been in charge of the Suns for that entire period, taking a team of youngsters and developing them into a team that claimed some big scalps this year.
His team’s finals tilt wasn’t helped by the fact star player and captain Gary Ablett succumbed to injury in Round 16, coinciding with his team’s loss of form and subsequent slip down the ladder.
Mark Thompson is rumoured to be favourite to take over at the Suns, with the Essendon mentor yet to confirm whether he will continue at the Bombers in 2015.
Thompson coached the under-siege Essendon club in 2014, after the suspension of coach James Hird. Hird’s future is still up in the air after the club’s suspension against the ASADA/AFL investigation was turned down.
Latest reports suggest the Suns will unveil Thompson as their new coach as early tomorrow.
The Suns have failed to make the finals in any of their AFL campaigns so far.
Suns chairman John Witheriff said McKenna had always put the club first, and was disappointed to be moving on.
“Guy was naturally disappointed but, as he has done since being appointed in August 2008, he put the interests of the club and our future ambitions first,” he said.
Witheriff also paid tribute to the values McKenna had instilled in the players at the club.
“He has been paramount in installing our club’s values – Bold, Fresh, Relentless, Community and Dependable. Those values are the guiding principles which our people live by every day.
“The fact that the Gold Coast Suns are now respected by our rivals in the AFL is due in no small part to the contribution Guy has made as our first senior coach,” Witheriff said.
McKenna says he leaves with a heavy heart, but was satisfied with the job he did with the players.
“It has been a privilege to have coached the Gold Coast Suns and I know the success the club aspires to achieve is not too far away,” McKenna said.
“The club has every right to pursue a direction it believes will give it the best chance of continued improvement. Although I leave with a heavy heart, I am content that I have helped develop a unique group of players.
“I leave with some great memories and strong friendships and I know they will remain despite my early departure.”
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