The Gold Coast Suns look set for a colossal match with Greater Western Sydney in Round 4, which has the potential to end their season within its first month.
The Suns were widely tipped to make the finals this year and there was solid foundation for such optimism – they have decent key position options, a flotilla of damaging midfielders – led by the AFL’s best player Gary Ablett – and were expected only to get better with age.
Gold Coast also had the softest possible of draws to start their season. Facing the two worst teams in the land, Melbourne and St Kilda, in consecutive weeks was a perfect opportunity for the Suns to build some confidence and momentum after a disappointing end to last season.
Instead, consecutive listless performances have left them in a deep crevasse. They are now staring at a 0-3 start to the season. This weekend they have to travel to Geelong to try to beat the Cats, a task which has proved almost impossible in recent seasons. The last time the Suns played at Simonds Stadium they were trounced by 52 points.
The chances of them coming away from this Sunday’s match with a win are extremely slim. In all likelihood they will enter their match against the Giants in Canberra with a guillotine hovering above their heads.
Lose that clash and they can say goodbye to finals footy in 2015. Granted, sides have recovered from 0-4 starts before to play a part in September. But surely it would be beyond a still developing side which is yet to make its first appearance in finals.
What’s more is their poor form extends far beyond the pair of woeful efforts against cellar dwellers Melbourne and St Kilda. The Suns have now won just four of their past 15 games stretching back to Round 11 last year when Adelaide beat them by 32 points and started their slide from a blossoming line-up to also-rans.
Leading into that game against the Crows, the Suns were in third spot on the ladder with a 7-2 record. It appeared that, in their fourth season in the AFL, Gold Coast were about to have a major influence on the competition for the first time. Finals appeared a certainty and a top-four spot, and the prized double chance it affords, was a distinct possibility.
Gary Ablett was running amok, playing at a level which only a rare few players have reached in the history of the game. But Ablett had long been dominating for the Suns – the reason for their success was the emergence of a battery of youngsters swiftly maturing around him.
Then Ablett got injured and the Suns’ season de-railed. Now he’s playing injured and it looks like their 2015 campaign may also end up in the ditch.
The superstar midfielder has been painful to watch over the first two rounds. Prior to the Round 1 match against the Demons, changing room cameras showed him wincing in pain repeatedly as he went through basic warm-up drills. The winged champion has played two of the least influential games of his career.
Gold Coast have to pray that their skipper returns to something close to full health in the near future, because without him controlling games they are a fine imitation of a rabble.
While the Suns have been stumbling, the Giants have taken advantage of their equally easy draw, registering wins over St Kilda and Melbourne.
GWS will be justifiably confident they can put the kybosh on the Suns’ finals hopes in Round 4. What a start that would be for new Suns coach Rodney Eade.
Don Freo
Guest
What's the wrong name; Fairfax or Murdoch?
josh
Roar Rookie
You could at the least, use the right name when addressing your concerns. Regardless of who the media, I don't think the NRL or AFL would be particularly concerned with what Fairfax or Murdoch papers right. They both have media arms for this purpose. Fairfax and Murdoch is all click-bait.
Bruce
Guest
Maxy, Maxy, Maxy............the old conspiracy theory now...... and other assorted innane mutterings. You had better check out todays Sydney papers - they're giving less and less AFL every day - better get Inspector Clouseau onto it!!
Max
Guest
How many shows are shot out of Melbourne? Project, offsiders compared to dozens out of Sydney Do you really watch them all to detect anti-NRL feeling?? I was talking about the telegraph, age and Sydney herald which I can monitor every day easily. Watching many TV shows is beyond most people who live normal lives...
Kirk
Guest
Max, we can discuss how anti rugby league the ABC, channel 7 and some shows on channel 10 are (pretty much any show that's shot out of Melbourne i.e the project)? the AFL has one newspaper that doesn't show it much love, so what?
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
You're kidding about News Ltd being anti-NRL aren't you? Somehow along the way I must've signed up to a Fox Sports headlines type email and the first set of headlines is always NRL, good, bad or indifferent, in the off season or during the season. It has the feel of them really pushing the NRL (and then soccer - mostly EPL) over other sports.
Max
Guest
Bruce, I said Fairfax papers and you throw in news Ltd papers?? The Swans are easily as popular as the waratahs but get much less column space. GWS barely gets a mention unless the herald want all AFL fans who span the demographics to sign up for an online subscription so they can get their Fairfax AFL from the web rather than casual reading at the café.. My point was Bruce, that Fairfax is anti AFL just as News is anti NRL for divorce and bronco monopoly reasons. Your long distance spitting analogy shows where you are in the education and good manners race and like Good Friday not a good advertisement for your game. Suddenly 2 easter NRL blockbusters at ANZ when country visitors boost .the crowd numbers artificially are are the shining examples.....
Bruce
Guest
You southern captives are hilarious and sad at the same time Christo. It's no use trying to talk sense to you. You poor buggers have been led around by the nose by the great god AFL for so long it's pointless trying to have an objective conversation with you - c'est la vie.
Craigo
Guest
@ Christo the Daddyo "It’s all rugby. Just fat guys falling over, running two metres and falling over." All those comments show is you really don't have any idea about sport. But thanks for the Grammar lesson ;)
m hughes
Guest
Christo two rl crowds in sydney beat the swans on the easter weekend both drew over 35,000 that has not happened for a very long time.
Don Freo
Guest
The word is "they're" not "their". Think, man! It's all rugby. Just fat guys falling over, running two metres and falling over.
Craigo
Guest
@ Christo the Daddyo. It's Rugby League! not Rugby! and their Referees not Umpires. Not a lot of thought there.
Don Freo
Guest
That sounds awfully pompous and exclusive, Craigo. So 50,000 people go to a game in Sydney. They come from other states but, even though they now live in Sydney, they are not real Sydneysiders...because they like AFL? No wonder Rugby players attack umpires. Not a lot of thought there.
Craigo
Guest
@ Christo the Daddyo "Which Sydney NRL team has as many members as the Swans? Which Sydney NRL team has an average crowd figure as large as the Swans? Which Sydney NRL team has the sponsorship revenue of the Swans?" Which Sydney NRL Team beats the Swans 10 fold in TV ratings week in week out ALL OF THEM!!!!! It's the southerns that live in Sydney that make the crowds at Swans games. Same can be said in Melbourne for the Storm. If the Swans had to rely on Sydney people the Swans crowds would look more like the Swans TV ratings. VERY BAD.
josh
Roar Rookie
Or more likely no one reads print based media. All Murdoch paper sales are down. because they trot out headline baiting articles for reads. That is why the AFL has created a media arm; doesn't rely on the old print media for hype stories.
Christo the Daddyo
Guest
"No one in Sydney cares"? Which Sydney NRL team has as many members as the Swans? Which Sydney NRL team has an average crowd figure as large as the Swans? Which Sydney NRL team has the sponsorship revenue of the Swans? And, the Swans and the Swifts have a similar skill set? Finally you've said something intelligent. Unfortunately for you that shared skill set is light years ahead of rugby league.
Avatar
Roar Guru
My opinion is that the Suns underestimated the Dees and Saints and paid the price for it. They also underestimated the Giants when they first met in Round 7, 2012 and also paid the price for that with a 27-point loss. The Giants got those same two opening fixtures (Saints R1 @ Etihad and Dees R2 @ Canberra) as the Suns and unlike their fellow expansion club the Giants took a serious winning mentality into both matches and won by 9 and 45 points respectively. If the Giants win their Round 4 fixture on ANZAC Day, then there will be serious problems arising at the Suns. This time last year everyone was saying thet were ahead of the Giants as far as development was concerned and this was justified by a 40-point win for the Suns against the Giants in their only meeting last season. Had Guy McKenna not been sacked then the Suns could have been 2-0 to start this season? But no. They've gone backwards and they've got a tough fortnight ahead of them with trips to Geelong and Canberra on either side of a six-day break. Things not looking good at the Suns at the moment.
Bruce
Guest
Here we go again Max with the old "the media is killing AFL in Sydney" line. Fair dinkum you southern captives are funny buggers. If putting Aussie Rules on the back page of the paper every day would sell more copies they would do it in a second. The fact is no one in Sydney cares so they put it 10 or 12 pages in from the back after RL, RU, ALeague, racing, cricket, motor sports and long distance spitting. You might want to go with the Daily Telegraph Max - last week they had two articles about 8 pages in from the back about the Swans. They gave them half a page and the Sydney Swifts the other half which is kind of appropriate considering both games share a similar skill set.
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Guest
Old Bluey Mac doesnt look so bad now does he...
Don Freo
Guest
How can one antiquated coach destroy things so quickly?