The Gold Coast Suns’ fiery centre half forward, Peter Wright, is a player who divides opinion.
Fans point to his best performances as evidence that he is an AFL-standard key forward, while those who have run out of patience are calling for his ticket out of town to be stamped.
Two Metre Peter, as he is known, is a quietly spoken young man who lets his footy do the talking. Or else his best mate, Touk Miller, does it for him. The pair have a great Touk’s Talk episode worth watching and you can see they are intimate friends, which is good for Suns fans given that the club has a stated goal of building a culture where players want to stay.
Wright’s first year was spent dealing with the step up to AFL level from TAC Cup, with only three AFL games and nothing remarkable about them, but he was a dominant presence in the NEAFL with 30-odd goals and some battles with AFL-standard defenders.
In 2016, Wright came back into the senior side having dominated in three NEAFL appearances, only missing one more game for the season. He proved to be a confidence player, having a day out whenever he got on top of an opponent but also going missing when contained by an opponent.
The Suns’ season that year went south at the very moment when Steven May knocked out Stefan Martin in the Q Clash. It also proved to be Wright’s golden opportunity because with Sam Day down back, he could develop at his own pace and still keep his spot the following week. Due to the timing, Wright went into his 12th AFL game without singing the song or being doused in Gatorade.
Round 15 against St Kilda was his breakout game, clunking ten marks, booting three goals and providing three goal assists from just 14 possessions, while also allowing Tom Lynch to play his more natural role.
The following week in the Q Clash, Wright destroyed Brisbane with 20 touches, 12 marks, five goals, three goal assists and a best-on-ground performance (three Brownlow votes) despite Lynch getting five goals of his own.
Peter Wright of the Suns celebrates a goal with teammate Tom Lynch. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
The Round 18 match was the end of the Suns’ 2016 revival, with the Lynch-Day-Wright experiment yielding four, four and three goals respectively. Lynch finished with his best year, having found a foil in Wright. The duo looked like one of the best in the competition.
In 2017, Day played no part in the three-tall experiment. Wright began to play with more consistency, kicking goals in all but three games in his first complete 22-game season, with all three coming in the first eight games.
He finished the season with 31 goals, and although his 19 behinds didn’t live up to his 27.10 from the season earlier, he incrementally improved and demonstrated once more that he and Lynch were one of the most damaging forward pairings in the league. However, they played only one more game together.
Wright’s 2018 season was frustrating. First he got injured in pre-season, then the injury didn’t respond to treatment, and by the time he was healthy, it was a return to the NEAFL to watch a painful month of footy as Lynch and Day went down with injury and still he couldn’t get a game.
Clearly, Stuart Dew had ideas of how he used Wright, yet it was so far from the previous coach and the expectations of fans it was practically unfathomable. Once sanity prevailed and Dew picked the three big men in the same team, Wright had a decent return nine months after his previous game, while Lynch battled gamely, but Day went off injured, and the Suns lost again.
Wright and Day have been effective together in the forward line, but they have only rarely appeared together once in the past six seasons. With the identification of Ben King as the Suns’ future number one key forward, the competition for the supporting role comes down to one or the other of Wright or Day, yet the former couldn’t get a game despite the latter going ten games without a goal.
Two Metre Peter was tracking better in his AFL career than Joe Daniher at the same stage, then a combination of Stuart Dew’s new game plan, the emergence of Ben King and injuries derailed his 2018 season. Wright was killing it every week in the NEAFL and came back late in the season – watch his game in the Suns’ historic win against the Swans.
In 2019, Wright showed that he’d transitioned into an effective ruck-forward, but for some reason Dew preferred Ben King and Sam Day in 2020, even though Wright’s stats in 2019 were clearly as good if not better than the others.
The knock on Wright is his marking, yet he averages five marks a game and a quarter of them are contested. Day kicks fewer goals, takes fewer marks, isn’t as good chopping out in the ruck and trails in every stat worth mentioning. Of course, statistics aren’t everything and clearly the Suns’ coaches had their reasons for persisting with the King-Day combination all year, but there is zero evidence that Wright has regressed.
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
The fact of the matter is that Stuart Dew and his coaching staff have favourites. It is shown weekly at the selection table and showed in the second half of this season when they only used 29 players out of 51 on their list.
Will Brodie only got one game, despite David Swallow and Hugh Greenwood clearly needing to be rested during their back to back to back series of games. Brayden Fiorini, who admittedly had a badly disrupted off-season with injuries, was continually played out of position and into misery.
If Wright gets traded, it leaves the Suns badly exposed in the tall department. The whole reason he was blooded so quickly by Rodney Eade was because Sam Day had his horrific injury in 2016 and Tom Lynch became too precious to even play in 2018. If his development hasn’t come on as expected, then it is due to the club’s massive disruptions rather than the player’s fault.
Wright was chosen as an emergency ten games out of 17 in 2020, so that if any tall got injured he’d have played. Every week it got more and more ridiculous that Wright couldn’t get a game, as King got a full season to develop and Day became a protected species.
Another consideration is that Wright has the tank to play 30-minute-plus quarters running down the wings, chopping out 20 per cent of the ruck work (the Suns have more stoppages than any other team) and the shortened quarters lessened his ability to influence games. He kicks goals at about 65 per cent accuracy, takes five marks per game, has a 3:1 free kicks for-and-against ratio, while his tackling and one-per-centers are better than Tom Lynch.
Clearly, Peter Wright has been at a disadvantage in a season of shortened quarters, so it has to be given due consideration when weighing his value in 2021. Other talls on the market have now been dealt, with Jeremy Cameron joining the Cats and Joe Daniher nominating the Lions. Wright is about to become the prettiest girl at the dance.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
I share your sentiment. I don't think he's really nasty though. He has just made some big errors.
J.T. Delacroix
Guest
I couldn’t care less where he goes, but for God’s sake, ditch that ‘two metre Peter’ nickname. Without doubt the worst ever bestowed/inflicted on any player.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
That's a silly name
DEESNUTSRBIG
Guest
:thumbdown: Peter Bell. It will be a feather in my cap when I p!$$ Hogan off to GWS for some useless late pick
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
Anna Palmer is a Russian born Australian who was married to Clive’s friend. When they were both widowed, they got married. For some strange reason, Clive got her to run in the election and be the face of the campaign. Think about how often you have to suffer through internet ads. In Queensland, all of those ads were Anna Palmer crying about a mythical death tax. She got 1.6% of the vote.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I didn't know her. I've always thought of Clive as Australia's Trump. Owing lots of investor's and employees whilst making out he knows how to run an economy!
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
Considering Wright has played in bottom of the ladder sides with awful inside 50 figures, while Daniher and Hogan have played in finals sides at time, this is a favourable comparison for Wright. If you looked at 2019 in isolation, Wright is actually the best of the 3, while 2020 was a blowout for all of them. Hence why Wright is now looking very sexy with Hogan, Daniher, Brown and Cameron off the board.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
I know you didn't do it intentionally, but you do realise that "Anna P" in Queensland is Clive Palmer's wife, who has been popping up in internet ads all over the shop querulously bleating "Labor Death Tax" in her Russian accent. Clive totally bombed and flushed $4 million down the pooper. But really, it was the resounding failure of One Nation that boosted Labor's vote and helped them hold off the advances made by the Greens. You can imagine what kind of policies Labor ran in rural areas to tempt back swinging Hanson voters. Coal, coal, coal.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
Wright gets paid probably closer to $400K than $500K, especially when he hasn't played senior footy at all. Actually, that might be why the club didn't play him so that they didn't have to pay him. Wright hasn't become a reserves player by any stretch - he's being left out of the team so that the young buck can develop with his draft class. His value is also based on what key position forwards get paid, plus an extra 20% for retention. Don't sleep on 2MP. He's still an AFL player.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
Just for context, here are the average career stats for Wright, King and Day in 2019. Games: Wright 17, King 14, Day 10 Kicks: Wright 8.5, King 4.6, Day 6.1 Handballs: Wright 3.5, King 2.5, 5.5 Marks: Wright 5.0, King 3.4, Day 5.0 Disposals: Wright 12, King 7.0, Day 11.6 Goals: Wright 21.13, King 17.9, Day 11.4 Hit outs: Wright 6.7, King 0.0, Day 4.4 Contested Possessions: Wright 4.8, King 3.6. Day 6.2 Contested marks: Wright 1.1, King 0.9, Day 1.8 Disposal efficiency: Wright 73.3%, King 57.9%, Day 67.7% 1%ers: Wright 4.0, King 1.5, Day 2.1 Age: Wright 24, King 19, Day 28 Basically, Wright was better than King in every way, but the club wanted to play the kid with the higher ceiling. Wright was better than Day in most things, yet the club went with the same combination all year regardless.
Papa Joe
Roar Rookie
Excellent article. I found it bizarre that Wright didn't get an opportunity in 2020. Day has been a key position forward for the best part of ten years and still hasn't managed 100 goals in total. And Suns don't need draft picks, they need solid players in their mid 20s to complement their young talent, including someone like Wright. May be too late, but they should keep Wright IMO.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
I was reluctant to list the Pies because their trade and draft strategy is nuclear. Nobody knows what their motivation is for the character assassination they've done on Adam Treloar, nor just how many players they need to move out to get players in. Treloar has been agreeing to backload after backload of his contract, so they've manoeuvred themselves into a situation where they'll be paying part of his salary for 5 years and can't expect much in return in terms of draft capital. But maybe there's room for a megadeal with the Suns. Treloar's family will be based in South-East Queensland, while Josh Thomas is actually from the area having rejected the Suns back when he was first drafted. Will Brodie and Peter Wright would fit list needs for Collingwood too. I just read that the Pies are shopping around their 2021 first rounder, which the Suns could pay for with their 2020 second rounders.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
That makes no sense.
2dogz
Roar Rookie
North or pies
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
I'm pretty blown away at the response this article is getting. 3 days after submitting it, Ben Brown has now nominated Melbourne for a trade, GWS have matched Geelong's offer on Jeremy Cameron, while Joe Daniher is officially a Lion and Jesse Hogan likely headed to the Giants. Pete would seem to be next banana, although when I set out to write the piece it was in hopes of justifying the case for the Suns keeping him, I seem to have convinced even myself of his draft value. North and Essendon have to be interested in him now that their key forwards have departed, but GWS have already moved to replaced JC while Freo are moving Hogan because they already have too many talls. One of Jack Heverin's callers today seemed to have suggested Peter Wright to Richmond, but Jack went on (and on) about Paddy McCartin instead. Maybe I misheard, but 2MP actually would suit the Tigers dual-ruck strategy and is a better set shot than either Riewoldt or Lynch. Readers have suggested the Western Bulldogs as a potential trade partner, but I'm thinking that unless they have a player the Suns want then they don't have the draft capital. Sydney is another interesting trade destination. Maybe a straight swap for Jordan Dawson? Suns could even swap #36 for a future pick, giving the Swans points to match bids on their Academy kids.
Footyguy
Guest
The Dockers have been long linked to Hogan throughout his career In 2016 there was serious talk about them getting him Not sure how it will pan out at gws I don't see Finlayson a main key forward, he's a swingman who had one good year Riccardi is the best forward they have though Himmelbergs the main one because he has experience Himmelberg doesn't kick enough goals, he does a lot of little things
Footyguy
Guest
Peter Bell has announced that Hogans leaving to GWS Giants, come on gws were thinking of the movie predator with Hogan if theres blood we can kill it In fact that's the motto of most clubs come trade period
JamesH
Roar Guru
I don't think the Dogs are fazed about not being active in the draft through. True, they might want enough picks to avoid going too far into deficit in 2021, but with JUH coming to the Kennel and a fairly young side as it stands, I think they'd much prefer to bring in a quality player. That's probably not something the Bombers would be willing to entertain after losing a few senior players already, hence why a third club might need to be involved. I wonder if they would be interested in Treloar (who perhaps suits their needs more than Dunkley) or even someone like Tom McDonald to play a defensive post.
Yattuzzi
Roar Rookie
Top end. Now that Giants have matched it, can they fit it under their cap?
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
Trading Dunkley takes the Dogs from a weak position in the draft if Jamarra Ugle-Hagan attracts an early bid to a strong position where they can match JUH's bid and remain active in the draft. As it stands, the Dogs are around 600 odd points short of matching pick #1, which could see their 2021 first round pick slide into the second round if they make finals to pay the points debt. The Suns have a mean draft hand, with the two second rounders plus Wright and Brodie to potentially trade. A similar mega trade was Mitch McGovern in 2018, with Sydney trading out of the first round to maximise their points for Nick Blakey with a pair of second rounders from Carlton, Adelaide banked a pick that ended up being #16 from Sydney plus Shane McAdam from Carlton, while the Blues got their player and a few other late round picks changed hands. Of course, the Dogs could just skip negotiating with the Bombers and send Dunkley to the Suns, who can easily accommodate their needs in both a replacement player in Brodie, picks to help match the JUH bid and rookie list space for brother Kyle. Alternatively, the Dogs and Bombers can get the deal done without assistance, so I'm probably being fanciful.