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At the start of the season there was renewed optimism about the AFL’s two Queensland sides being top eight contenders.
With Guy McKenna sacked and replaced by one of the coaching game’s best strategists, Rodney Eade, and with a talented young list that should have been about to hit their prime, the Suns seemed to have come across a gold mine.
Finals were surely a certainty with Gary Ablett’s return from injury.
In the case of Brisbane, they chased some star midfielders who wanted to head to the sunshine state in Collingwood’s Dayne Beams and Allen Christensen from Geelong, as well as Carlton hard nut Mitch Robinson.
Combined with excellent on-ballers like Daniel Rich, Tom Rockliff, Jack Redden and Pearce Hanley, they had a brigade which ran as deep as most clubs, which is so important in this competition. These additions were seen as complementing a side that had made significant strides in the second half of 2014.
However, as we approach the halfway mark of the season, both Queensland sides have had shockers, with the Lions in 16th spot and the Suns on the bottom, getting thrashed most weeks.
Gold Coast are missing four of their best midfielders in Ablett, David Swallow, Jaeger O’Meara and Dion Prestia, with the latter two out for the rest of the season. Any team would struggle, no matter how solid their depth, to replace players of that calibre for long periods of time.
But there’s also the growing number of off-field issues.
Most of us like a drink – in moderation, mind you – however, several Gold Coast players are choosing the wrong time to have a sip including Harley Bennell, who is fast becoming a wasted talent, Trent McKenzie and Brandon Matera.
Then there’s Charlie Dixon and Jack Martin’s dumb decision. The night before the Hawthorn clash in Launceston, they elect to have a glass of wine or two. How serious are these guys about being successful footballers and playing in a team that craves success on a consistent basis?
The Gold Coast has a horrible record of sporting teams in elite competitions like the NRL and the NBL having success and surviving. The environment doesn’t seem right.
The AFL has invested too much time and especially money into the Suns for them to fall over, but even under a reputable coach like Eade they are going backwards at a rate of knots.
From the outside you hear the players are not on the same page: you have the group that like a good time and the other, more sensible crew. Eade has been renowned over the years to give his team a rocket or 10 if they need it. Clearly the Suns require thousands.
They also lack leaders, with Ablett obviously a great player but seemingly not a natural leader. There’s Michael Rischitelli and young Tom Lynch, but that’s about it.
Eade will weed out the riff raff, however, the Suns administrators have to forget about finals glory for some time yet.
As far as the Lions are concerned, they need an experienced key forward and key defender. They haven’t replaced Jonathan Brown, with Michael Close, Dan McStay and Jonathan Freeman all part of a long injury list.
Veteran defenders Dan Merrett and Matt Maguire are also injured, and very close to the end of their careers, with Justin Clarke still developing and Darcy Gardiner, Hugh Beasley and Jordan Bourke all just starting out.
These sides can’t afford to languish down the bottom for too long, because the inroads the AFL have made into Queensland could evaporate pretty quickly. The Lions have made the finals once since their last grand final appearance in 2004 and seem to have been rebuilding forever.
When they recruit high draft picks from other states, they are having trouble hanging onto them. Their first selection from 2013, South Australian James Aish, is seemingly on the way out, even though he is yet to prove himself.
It’s a long row to hoe for the Suns and Brisbane, but there has to be some improvement in the second half of the season, as they are becoming irrelevant in the football landscape.
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