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Is the Gold Coast curse repeating for the AFL's Suns?

30th June, 2015
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The Gold Coast Suns are struggling to crack a problem region. (Slattery Images)
Expert
30th June, 2015
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Gold Coast Suns chairman John Witheriff famously claimed that his club was one of the cleanest sporting teams when it came to drugs. Those comments have now come back to haunt him.

It’s obvious that the so called extensive investigation into the end of season excessive partying last year wasn’t that extensive.

Administrators were told by the players that there was nothing to see in allegations that Karmichael Hunt had supplied cocaine to teammates.

However, Hunt’s explosive revelations, which were made public last week, has indicated otherwise. The AFL and the Suns, firmly with tails between their legs, need to ramp up their investigations much better this time.

This is a team that the AFL has poured millions into, including signing Hunt as the marquee player, to market the game on one of Australia’s most popular holiday destinations.

This is where the problem seems to lie for the Suns, the Gold Coast has a poor reputation when it comes to housing elite sporting teams.

The population has always had a reputation of being transient, and therefore sporting clubs, whether they be NRL or NBL sides, have never received enough support from the public to install themselves as permanent fixtures.

The NRL has been trying to survive with a franchise since 1988, when the Gold Coast/Tweed Heads Giants were formed.

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They had to play matches in Tweed Heads on the NSW border as the Brisbane Broncos, also formed in 1988, had a clause in their contract that there could only be one south east Queensland side in the competition.

They struggled and then changed their name to the Seagulls and were hardly competitive, winning four wooden spoons in a row before reinventing themselves as the Chargers.

They made the finals once in 1997, but that was when the split was on. They were with the NRL and lost in the semi-finals. They then just avoided the wooden spoon in 1998 before folding.

The Gold Coast Titans came in nine seasons later and have also been battling to survive with major financial concerns.

Their NBL teams also changed names frequently and were short lived. The Rollers lasted from 1990-96 and the Blaze had a six-year career.

The Suns won’t suffer the same fate as the AFL will make sure of that, but they are an embarrassment.

They are struggling to be competitive on the field. A lack of depth has been exposed with all their injuries to star players and there are distinct factions in the playing camp.

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There’s the religious group and then there’s the social set, who have already committed several indiscretions forcing them to suffer club suspensions.

The Gold Coast environment and a successful elite sporting club have not been compatible bed fellows for years and on current form that’s a long way from changing any time soon.

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