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Danny Stanley, Jack Hutchins and team mates of the Suns celebrate victory after Justin Westhoff of Port missed a goal to win during the AFL Round 05 match between Port Adelaide Power and the Gold Coast Suns at AAMI Stadium, Adelaide.
He’s won premierships, a Brownlow medal, All-Australian jumpers and just about every AFL gong on offer. But Gary Ablett had trouble summing up the joy of captaining Gold Coast to their historic first AFL victory.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Ablett said after a stirring three-point triumph over Port Adelaide on Saturday.
“It’s a fantastic feeling for the boys to have that feeling of winning, it’s great.”
His coach, Guy McKenna, looked like a proud parent.
“It’s a great fillip for the football club – on the field it’s fantastic for the players, but off the field I have no doubt it’s a great shot in the arm,” McKenna said.
The Suns triumphed after trailing by 40 points deep into the third quarter on foreign soil.
“It just shows we’re moving in the right direction,” McKenna said.
“I wouldn’t say the whole game was some great football by the Gold Coast, that is for sure, but we just played a bit more better football than we did last week.
“The pleasing thing was, the boys spent another game out there playing alongside one another and they were able to play the footy they wanted to play, and today they got a win.”
McKenna, who scaled the greatest heights as a player to win premierships at West Coast, was uncertain how coaching the win compared to his playing achievements.
“I haven’t really stopped to think about that, to be honest,” he said.
“I have got a job to do – to develop these boys, to make them grow into good footballers and good people, and that is my job.
“Obviously ultimately the club and the side gets judged by wins and losses, but it’s about these boys developing and growing.
“And today, they stood up and won a game of footy, which is fantastic.
“But next week against the Bombers we all start from scratch.”
Port Adelaide coach Matthew Primus says his club is the laughing stock of the AFL after an almighty choke gifted Gold Coast their historic first victory on Saturday.
Gold Coast came from 40 points down 29 minutes into the third quarter to pip Port by three points, 15.14 (104) to 15.11 (101), at AAMI Stadium.
The Suns kicked eight of the last nine goals to log a breakthrough triumph, hailed by coach Guy McKenna as a fillip for the fledgling club.
“Slowly but surely the boys are playing longer patches of good football and it was just that never-say-die attitude,” McKenna said.
“The boys got their tails up … they were excited, they could smell maybe their first victory, so that drove them and probably pushed them beyond the point of exhaustion.
“Look at the boys after the song and most of them were reaching for oxygen masks and about to pass out.”
McKenna’s charges, defeated by a 93-point average in their initial three games, appeared set for another whipping when Port forward Daniel Motlop kicked his fourth goal of the game late in the third term.
Motlop’s major put his side 40 points up but the Power spectacularly collapsed in the last stanza, when Gold Coast booted 6.5 to 1.4 to steal victory.
Power utility Justin Westhoff had a chance to win the game for his club with a kick at goal after the final siren, but his 45 metre set shot sailed wide for a point.
Primus took the unprecedented step of publicly apologising for Port’s performance.
Asked if the loss made Port the AFL’s laughing stock, Primus replied: “Yeah, for sure.
“We have got to delve real deep into the psyche of our club and understand why we produce these kinds of results.
“To our supporters and sponsors, we apologise for that and we’ll keep delving away to try and produce 22 (players) that want to compete on a weekly basis.
“… It doesn’t do wonders for the morale of the club and the brand at all. We have a brand that hasn’t been well thought of for a couple of years now and we are going to sort our way through it.”
The Suns’ experienced players shone, with midfielder Michael Rischitelli (31 disposals, two goals), captain Gary Ablett (26 touches), Jared Brennan (23 possessions) and Jarrod Harbrow (22 disposals) all influential.
Their match breaker was pint-sized forward Brandon Matera, whose four goals included two freakish snaps while also helping create other scores in a standout display.
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