After crashing to yet another disappointing defeat on the weekend, the Gold Coast Suns may want to re-consider the direction that it is heading in at the moment.
The Suns had promised to bounce back from their insipid Round 1 loss to Melbourne but instead they dished up more tripe. They lost to last year’s wooden spooners St Kilda by 28 points at Metricon Stadium on Saturday night.
It was the second consecutive week in which they lost to a bottom two side from last season after starting as favourites. Many experts had them pencilled in to be 2-0 after as many rounds, on the basis of their domination against those two sides, and their rapid improvement last year.
Coach Rodney Eade was brought in to replace foundation coach Guy McKenna after it was determined by the Suns board that the latter was incapable of taking the club to the finals for the first time.
The season-ending shoulder injury suffered by Gary Ablett Jr against Collingwood midway through last season also proved to be his downfall as the Suns crashed from being third after Round 10 to finishing 12th at season’s end.
Eade’s track record of turning clubs around, in which he took the Sydney Swans to a grand final two years after they picked up three straight wooden spoons, and the Western Bulldogs to a hat-trick of preliminary finals in 2008-10 was what impressed the Suns board most and led to them ultimately landing their man as coach.
They had determined that he was the man who could take the Suns to the next level, and with the addition of Swans premiership player Nick Malceski during the off-season, a lot was expected from the fifth-year club this season.
But now the club is winless after two rounds of the new season and it could get a whole lot worse in the following fortnight with road trips to Geelong and Canberra set for either side of a six-day break.
It was in Geelong, where skipper Gary Ablett Jr made a name for himself before moving north at the end of 2010, where the Suns suffered their worst defeat when it lost by 150 points late in a difficult debut season for them in 2011.
However, the club can take heart from the fact that they did beat the Cats by 40 points at home last season, with Ablett and Harley Bennell pulling the strings as the Suns posted what was easily one of their best wins in club history.
But playing the Cats in Geelong is one of the AFL’s most daunting assignments and the aforementioned 150-point loss in 2011 came a week after the Cats had put Melbourne to the sword by a near-record 186 points.
Since 2007, only the Sydney Swans and Fremantle have been able to come away from Kardinia Park with a victory, with the latter’s win ultimately setting them up to reach the grand final where it then lost to Hawthorn by 15 points.
Following the trip to Geelong, the Suns face a short turnaround before taking on the rapidly improving GWS Giants in the Anzac Day twilight match in Canberra.
In contrast to the Suns’ current on-field plight, the Giants are doing as many are expecting them to do this season and that is improving their on-field results and laying the foundations for long-term success.
The Giants received the same opening two rounds as the Suns did in facing St Kilda and Melbourne and unlike their fellow expansion club, they justified their favouritism with wins by 9 and 45 points respectively.
Against the Dees they were 27 points down at half-time before a record-breaking quarter (nine goals in the third quarter) and half (thirteen goals in the second half) saw them claim another new club record, their third consecutive match win (dating back to their Round 23 win over the Western Bulldogs last season).
Any previous Giants team would have thrown the towel in at this stage but the present side, strengthened by the additions of Ryan Griffen and Joel Patfull, showed just what they are capable of producing as they recorded their best start to a season ever.
It sets them up for what could be the biggest Sydney derby yet, with the Sydney Swans also unbeaten, and in form, after two rounds. The sticking point for the Giants is that the match is at the SCG where they have lost on their two visits.
The youngest club in the AFL can take heart that they did cause a huge upset at Spotless Stadium in Round 1 last season, but with the ground still unavailable due to its recent use during the Sydney Royal Easter Show, the Giants will have to wait until Round 21 to host the Derby.
It was at this time last year that many had the Suns ahead of the Giants as far as development was concerned, and it has been well documented many times that Gary Ablett Jr is the difference between the two sides.
The little master has polled six out of a possible six Brownlow Medal votes in the teams’ last two meetings, including in their only meeting in Round 6 last year which the Suns won by 40 points. It vindicated many experts’ beliefs that the Suns were indeed ahead of the Giants as far as on-field progress was concerned.
He also initiated a pact that the club “should never lose to the Giants again”, after they lost their first ever meeting against the Giants by 27 points, giving them their first win at AFL level.
While the Suns have won the four subsequent meetings since, the Anzac Day twilight clash in Round 4 could give the Giants a chance to peg back a win in the AFL’s fledgling rivalry between the two expansion sides.
If the Giants were to win this match, it could potentially leave the Suns at 0-4 to start the season and spark suggestions that the club has gone backwards, just like Carlton who appear to have done so under Mick Malthouse.
Like the Suns last year, Carlton’s hopes in 2012 were wrecked by injuries and a loss to the Suns in the penultimate round that season killed off any hopes then-coach Brett Ratten had of remaining at Princes Park.
The forecast for the period leading up to the Round 12 bye for the Suns is as bleak as it can get; after the road trips to Geelong and Canberra, the club will face home games against the Brisbane Lions and the red-hot Adelaide Crows before making the dreaded trip west to face the West Coast Eagles at Domain Stadium.
After that, the Suns will face Collingwood (at home), Hawthorn (in Launceston), the Sydney Swans and Fremantle (both at home) before their Round 12 bye, which will precede their 100th AFL game against Carlton (away) in Round 13.
The way the Suns are going at the moment, it’s possible the club could be winless, or at best have two or three wins by the mid-season break. It would not be an ideal start to Rodney Eade’s Gold Coast coaching career or any hope the club has of playing in September for the first time.
Eade stated after the Round 1 loss to Melbourne that the club “are a few years away from playing finals”. If the Suns continue to struggle for the rest of the season, then his comments may be well and truly vindicated.
But let’s just hope that the Suns can quickly turn things around before it starts getting worse in the following rounds.
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.
Gold Coast defender Wil Powell has been banned for five matches after using a homophobic slur during the Suns' loss to Brisbane. Powell was…
Tom Hawkins returns to familiar surroundings of Geelong - but is it the tonic he needs to regain some of his confidence back after a goalless four games.
Jeremy Finlayson should be a welcome addition to the Port Adelaide forward line after kicking four goals in the SANFL last week.
"Just forget your ACL snap and hobble forward!"
Last, year in the second showdown, Adelaide destroyed Port by 47 points with a staggering 20 marks inside 50 with Tex Walker the main star.
There’s no disputing that Cam Guthrie will be important against Melbourne, given Patrick Dangerfield is set to miss due to injury.
