They are the team that was supposed to be the jewel in the national crown for the AFL. A couple of years ago they were flying. It was a matter of when, not if the Gold Coast Suns were going to take the football world by storm.
They were supposed to race the ever-improving Greater Western Sydney Giants to the first expansion premiership. With guys like Jaeger O’Meara, David Swallow, Tom Lynch, Brandon Matera, Trent McKenzie and the like improving week by week, how could they not be successful?
When you add arguably the best player of the last 20 years to that mix, one Gary Ablett, there was an air of inevitability surrounding the Suns that they were destined for great things.
The situation up on the coast right now could not be further away from the promise of recent years. With crisis talks being held and members’ frustration at an all-time high, the question has to be asked, what happened to the Suns?
Let’s start with the skipper. Some have said that in hindsight it was a mistake getting Ablett to lead the club in its first years as his shadow proved too great and didn’t allow the young group to find their own feet quickly enough.
I am not a full subscriber of this theory and believe the problems have run far deeper than one man in south-east Queensland.
We all know Ablett is a once-in-a-generation player. A Brownlow medallist, premiership player and incredible athlete that has been at the top of the football world for a decade.
Perhaps he was not the man to lead them, there are numerous examples of the best player not always making the best captain as his former skipper Cameron Ling proved at Geelong. But there comes a point where if you are good enough to be on an AFL list, you are good enough to demand improvement from yourself.
Your coaches also need to demand improvement from you on a weekly basis. It is too easy to point the finger and say the players underneath Ablett haven’t grown to be the players they should be because of his greatness. That is a huge copout.
There was always going to be a significant transition period for the Suns but the wheels falling off when the great man went down reveal far more than over-reliance on him.
If we drill down on the recruiting of the Gold Coast from 2012 onwards it doesn’t really paint the rosiest of pictures either. The Karmichael Hunt saga was no more than a publicity stunt, which some may argue served its purpose of more people becoming interested in the club. From a football perspective however, it was money down the drain and of zero benefit.
Aside from Ablett, the Suns have failed to sell the club to any real big fish such as Buddy Franklin, Kurt Tippett or even Nick Riewoldt and it is widely accepted that the long-term on-field success of a footy club can and often is built around a star big man. This rings true even rolling back the decades, think Wayne Carey, Jonathan Brown and even more recently Jeremy Cameron at GWS.
Lynch is growing into a star but we are five years into the Suns’ AFL life and their inability to land another marquee player that is six inches taller than ‘Gaz’ has found them wanting. In stark contrast to their GWS counterparts who have recruited mature-age players magnificently, the Suns have failed miserably.
While we witness the brilliant form of Heath Shaw, Shane Mumford and so far in 2016 Steve Johnson, the old heads at Gold Coast, when not injured, have been underwhelming at best.
Nick Malceski has failed to be half the player he was at Sydney, Matt Rosa has shown only glimpses, Michael Rischitelli has been good without being great and the top-end draft talent that has been stockpiled has failed to continue on the upward trend of the last couple of years. Zac Smith and Charlie Dixon both performing well at their new clubs also rubs salt into an already gaping wound.
The biggest excuse the Suns have right now is their injury list. Jack Martin busted his shoulder in his first game in 2014 and is yet to really shine, O’Meara and Swallow have barely been sighted the last two seasons due to ongoing knee problems, while Ablett’s shoulder issue has been well documented.
Currently the club has 21 players in the medical room not playing. Add Steven May who was suspended for his crude hit on Lions ruckman Stefan Martin and you have 22 players that are unavailable – effectively a full team. Not saying it is the only reason behind the Suns’ rapid fall but these injuries would test the depth of any AFL club.
As far as improvement and where it will come from, the Suns need to get back to basics. Rodney Eade is a good coach. He has been there and done it before, both at Sydney and the Western Bulldogs as head coach and on both occasions has taken them deep into September. He may not have the cattle right now but the best attribute of both Sydney and the Dogs then and now is their maniacal attack on the footy and contested ball.
This is Gold Coast’s biggest issue at present. Regardless of experience or injuries, there is one thing you can control on a football field and that is your intensity at the contest. Melbourne have lacked it for several years but are discovering how valuable contested possession is so far this season. The Suns need to follow in their footsteps.
Whether it is Ablett himself or young Darcy MacPherson playing his third game, they need to crack in one contest at a time. Go and watch Jack Viney’s tape from the weekend and replicate it.
They may not win a lot of games for the rest of 2016 but for the Suns it’s not about winning four points, it has to be about winning back the respect of the footy world.
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Round 5 of the AFL provided plenty of action, from big scorelines to upset wins and pressure starting to build on some clubs and coaches already.
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It could be a weekend for contenders to emerge, teams to hopefully break droughts, o and overall footy to have a party.
