With both the Gold Coast Suns and GWS Giants now well and truly past their infant years, 2015 shapes as the season in which both clubs must seriously start pushing for a maiden finals berth.
Season 2014 saw both clubs record their best seasons in their respective existences, with the Suns finishing 12th and the Giants avoiding the wooden spoon for the first time after two consecutive last-place finishes since their entry in 2012.
The Suns’ 2014 season could have had a totally different outcome had captain Gary Ablett Jr. not suffered a serious season-ending shoulder injury in the thrilling win against Collingwood in Round 16.
At the time, the Suns were pushing for a finals berth but were quickly slipping down the ladder after losses to eventual grand finalists Hawthorn and Sydney, as well as the West Coast Eagles in Perth.
That, and the fact they won just three more games after sitting third on the ladder with a 7-2 record after Round 10, proved fatal as foundation coach Guy McKenna was given his marching orders at season’s end.
He has been replaced by the experienced Rodney Eade, who took the Sydney Swans to the 1996 grand final in his first year and the Western Bulldogs to three consecutive preliminary finals in the late noughties.
Eade has said that Ablett has the potential to dominate the AFL in the same way Michael Jordan did so in the NBA in the late 1980s. He will be very lucky to be coaching Ablett just as he seeks to return to peak form.
He also had the fortune of coaching Tony Lockett when he became the AFL’s greatest goalkicker at Sydney, while he also turned Brad Johnson into not just a club captain, but also an All-Australian captain, at the Western Bulldogs.
The club has also secured the services of Swans premiership player Nick Malceski through free agency, and his arrival on a three-year deal will help to bolster not only their defence, but also what shapes as a maturing and exciting playing list.
He joins Ablett as the only other player in the Gold Coast squad to have played in a premiership side, having been part of the Swans’ 2012 premiership side when he kicked the winning goal against Hawthorn with 30 seconds left.
The arrivals of Eade and Malceski have elevated expectations for the Suns, who will open their 2015 season against Melbourne at the MCG in Round 1. It will be the first time the club has played their first match of a regular season at the ground.
Having improved their ladder position since claiming the wooden spoon in year one (2011), the club must now aim for the lofty heights of the top eight, maybe even the top four, but of course that will come down to whether Gary Ablett Jr. can repeat his dominant heroics of 2013 which saw him take out his second Brownlow Medal.
The Suns will also want to ensure that he remains injury-free after the shoulder injury he suffered against Collingwood coincided with their fall down the ladder, culminating in a 12th place finish and the sacking of coach Guy McKenna.
More importantly, the club must seek to improve their performances against the AFL’s heavyweights (namely Hawthorn, the Sydney Swans and Fremantle) – in the four matches against those teams, the average losing margin was 58.75 points.
If the Suns can continue to build on the excellent form that they displayed throughout the first half of 2014, then finals football may become a reality in 2015. Given their list full of talent and maturity, a top-four berth may be achievable as well.
Now switching focus to the GWS Giants, who since upsetting the Western Bulldogs by a goal in the final match of the regular season have also enjoyed an eventful off-season by their standards.
The win over the Bulldogs capped off their best season since entry into the competition and comes after they won only three games combined across their first two seasons, where losses by over 100 points were far too common.
Unfortunately, injuries prevented the club from fielding its strongest possible line-up regularly throughout the season, and that proved to be the difference between them possibly winning more games or losing matches by heavy margins.
On the flipside, however, with depleted line-ups they were able to beat Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs in two of their final three matches of the season – both coming on either side of a narrow eight-point loss to Collingwood at home.
The Giants acquired the services of former Western Bulldogs captain Ryan Griffen and two-time Brisbane Lions best-and-fairest Joel Patfull during the trade period, thus adding to a playing list which combines talent and experience well.
They join Shane Mumford, Heath Shaw and Callan Ward as experienced heads the Giants will rely on as they look to climb out of the bottom three for the first time in their history in 2015.
They will also want to have a fit and firing Jeremy Cameron back for Round 1, which sees them tackle St Kilda at Etihad Stadium before a winnable second round showdown against Melbourne in Canberra the following week.
His fitness will be crucial with Jonathon Patton set to miss a large chunk of the season after rupturing his ACL against the Demons in August, and 2013 number one draft pick Tom Boyd having left the club for the Western Bulldogs.
As far as on-field performances go, competitiveness will be a major area where the Giants should aim to continue to improve. While they did push the heavyweight clubs like Hawthorn and Geelong to single-figure margins, there were also some heavy, intolerable defeats to others during 2014.
The experienced players the Giants have signed during trade week will hopefully lead to more wins and less heavy defeats like those we saw against West Coast and Richmond in May, in 2015.
That said, the club should aim for 8-10 wins next season, with a few of them away from home. Three of the club’s six wins in 2014 came on the road, including two in Melbourne (one each at the MCG and Etihad Stadium) and one at the Gabba.
Thus, season 2015 shapes as the year where the AFL’s two youngest clubs need to start making their mark on the competition, and show that they are not here to simply make up the numbers.
Anything less and dare I say it, more heavy losses could be headed their way in 2015. But with both clubs well past their infant years, and having added some experience to their respective playing lists, let’s hope for less of that and more improvement next season.
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