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.
Katfish
Roar Guru
the suns were missing Lynch (susension), Dixon (ankle), O'Meara (knee) and 50% of Gaz in round 1. Lynch and Dixon in particular were big misses as Tom McDonald dominated the Suns forward line.Their presence forward may have been enough to get them over the line as they got within 10 points in the last quarter. Not even the All-Australian forward line could have saved them against the Saints.
Katfish
Roar Guru
The suns have been rank to start the season, but this article is a little premature. Eade's teams have been slow to start in his first year. the Swans in 96 started 0-2 after getting flogged by the Crows and comfortably beaten by the Dockers who both finished in the bottom 5. The Swans went on to become the minor premiers. Similarly, the Dogs started 2-4 after 6 rounds but went on to finish 9th, 5 spots higher than the previous year. The best way to judge if the suns are indeed going backwards is too compare their ladder position in 2015 to 2014. The Suns list is certainly not going backwards, but their effort is.
Avatar
Roar Guru
Yes, that did happen (GWS beating Sydney in Round 1 last year) but the Swans came into the season underdone by injuries to key players (Goodes missed most of the second half of the previous season and Tippett suffered a knee injury in the finals and it caused him to miss their preliminary final loss to Fremantle). Goodes came back in Round 6 against Melbourne (the Swans were 2-3 at the time) and eventually proved that he's not yet a spent force while Tippett came back in Round 8 (4-3) and in tandem with Buddy Franklin caused the opposition headaches. From there the Swans romped all the way to the top of the ladder before suffering a huge Grand Final meltdown against the Hawks. As for the Giants, injuries then kicked in and they suffered a pair of 100+ point losses mid-season before finishing off strongly to avoid the wooden spoon for the first time (finishing 16th). While the Suns shouldn't be written off this early in the season I was prepared to do so given what's in front of them, particularly in the next fortnight. They face the Cats in Geelong this Sunday and then back up six days later against the Giants in Canberra. It's possible that the Suns could be 0-4 by then and it won't be a good start to the Rodney Eade era. Also the fact they were so pitiful against the Dees and Saints, last year's two worst-performed teams, isn't a good indication as to where the club should be heading and that's towards the upper echelon of the ladder with a proven and experienced coach (Eade) and a premiership defender (Malceski). With no major injuries (from what I know), there's no excuses as to where the Suns are at the moment.
slane
Guest
Didn't the 2013 wooden spoon winners beat the Swans in round 1 last year? Didn't the Swans still play in the Grand Final? I feel like people are writing off teams way too early these days. Take a deep breath and remember that we are only a 2 weeks into the season.
Avatar
Roar Guru
I agree. I don't think Guy McKenna was given sufficient time to regularly prove that he could coach the Suns to victories when Gary Ablett wasn't in the side. While there was only one win after Ablett went down against the Pies last year, it was against the eventual wooden spooners St Kilda. Had McKenna remained then my opinion would be that the Suns would be 2-0 instead of 0-2 right now. On another note, Melbourne got rid of Dean Bailey in the immediate aftermath to their 186-point loss to Geelong in 2011. What hurt at the time was that the Dees were still in with the chance of making the finals when they suffered that humiliating loss at Kardinia Park. Had that result not happened, and had they kept him, then who knows what would have happened in the subsequent seasons. Suns fans just need to be patient for now and their hard work will eventually turn into results.
Rob
Guest
It was scary how good the Giants were when they switched on last sat against the demons. Melbourne had been playing pretty good footy but the Giants looked uninterested. Then they woke up. Melbourne couldn't get their hands on the ball let alone the Giants who had the ball - they didn't even have the chance to play badly! GWS are for mine way way ahead of the Suns.
Axle an the Guru
Guest
McKenna deserved another season with this mob for sure,but he's gone and Eade is in. It will take a bit of time for the players to adapt to Eades game plan.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
I think we always suspected that the Giants methodology of going all out for the best young guns, putting up with short term pain for significant long term gain was going to end up paying dividends and that it would allow them to catch up to the Suns very, very quickly. Of course the fitness of Ablett has accentuated all of this, and we shouldn't lose sight of young Suns midfileders like Swallow, O'Meara, Martin and Bennell all being top shelf, but the Giants' midfield list runs much deeper AND they have two genuine key position forwards who will be amongst the elite of the competition for the next decade,
Michael huston
Guest
Definitely backwards (for now, anyway). Getting rid of McKenna was absolute madness. They fell for the oldest trick in the book: we're not doing well, must be the coach. Melbourne had that same logic and went through about 384 coaches in the last decade. This team was made up of entirely teenagers whose careers began under McKenna, and whose careers improved and developed under McKenna. The improvement was there: obviously the player-coach relationship was solid. Look at this current Hawthorn team. It basically started with Alistair Clarkson, and he knows each player like the back of his hand. Which is how he's able to bring out the best in them. You don't fracture that crucial unity between a group of young players and their coach. I also hate to say it but Ablett is only going to decline. He'll probably decline at an astronomically impressive level, but he won't get any better. Not now that he's in his 30's and his injury has hampered his form for a long time now. Malceski SHOULD be playing well, but he doesn't look to be fitting into the team that well at all. Then there's Prestia, O'Meara, Bennell, Swallow etc. They're all good young players. But compare them to the midfield of a middle side like Adelaide, or even Essendon, and you can see how, in crucial games where a spot in the 8 is on the line, they could lose. They also just need to believe, and have some second and third tier leadership. I was watching Freo today, and even though Pavlich is the spiritual and literal leader of the club, the likes of Fyfe and Mundy were out there revving their team up. Same with Sydney. There are games when the captains Jack and McVeigh maybe aren't leading by example, but the other guys like Parker and Hannebery will step up. Gold Coast need to realize that Ablett isn't the be all that ends all. They can win games without him. But it's concerning watching them play, how lifeless they can look without Ablett. And I look at other clubs who are improving: Essendon can finally put their ASADA situation behind them and focus on being the good team they probably should be. Adelaide are in ominous form and seem to finally have a settled, complete side. GWS, Melbourne and the Bulldogs, whilst never being impressive enough to be top 8-worthy, have shown more heart and guts and effort than the Suns. Richmond are capable of playing some great footy, and West Coast can, when on a roll, dominate teams below them like no other. All of that, plus the superior quartet of Hawks, Swans, Freo and Port, and I really just can't see any room for a side performing this poorly in the top eight. It will take a serious club - not team - effort as well as others dropping off, for the Suns and their "saviour" Rodney Eade to make the finals.