Roar Guru
The Gold Coast Suns have sent Hawthorn to the bottom of the ladder for the first time in a decade, demolishing the winless Hawks by 86 points at Metricon Stadium in the biggest ever victory in the club’s history.
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Final score
Gold Coast Suns 21.13.139
Hawthorn Hawks 7.11.53
The final match of Round 3 sees the winless Hawthorn Hawks travel to Carrara to take on the Gold Coast Suns at Metricon Stadium. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 4:40pm AEST Sunday afternoon.
All eyes will be on Jaeger O’Meara as he lines up in his new colours against his former team. Although no stranger to Metricon Stadium, O’Meara will not have played at the ground since 2014 – 952 days ago.
Both Hawthorn and Gold Coast have been disappointing so far this season to say the least. Although the Hawks are favourites, they have far more to lose.
While new recruits O’Meara and Tom Mitchell have started their seasons well picking up 36 and 38 touches respectively last week, Ty Vickery has been less than impressive with just the one goal so far and will look to use this game to build confidence in the side.
On the other side of the fence, dual Brownlow medallist Gary Ablett Jr has been the talking point all week and looks set to follow O’Meara’s lead to return to Victoria at the end of the season. Ablett will need to turn back the clock this week – much like he did last time he played the Hawks with 40 disposals – to get the critics off his back.
The Hawks have omitted Kade Stewart and lost Grant Birchall (jaw), but have replaced them with Brendan Whitecross and Kaiden Brand.
The Suns lose youngster Ben Ainsworth to a quad injury, while omitting Callum Ah Chee and Jack Leslie from the 102 point loss to the Giants last week. Adding in experience from Jarrod Harbrow and Brandon Matera is a welcome addition to two-gamer Brayden Fiorini.
Head-to-head the Hawks are 8-0 on the Suns, with their last three matchups all in Launceston at York Park. This will be only the third time the Suns have hosted the Hawks in their ninth matchup.
Prediction
Whoever loses this match will be the talking point of the week and for that reason I’m tipping the Hawks to win convincingly by 35 points.
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 4:40pm AEST Sunday.