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Opinion
The Gold Coast Suns have moved early in the 2020 AFL trade period to acquire electrifying speedster Oleg Markov, who fills a missing puzzle piece in the squad.
Markov is the son of Olympian and 2001 World Championship gold medallist Dmitri Markov, who defected from Belarus to Australia when his son was just a baby. Dmitri’s personal best jump of 6.05 metres would have won gold at any modern Olympic Games. His wife, Valentina, was a decathlete before Oleg was born.
It is quite remarkable that a boy from a small city near the Russian border famous for producing pole vaulters could ever hope to have played AFL, but with the athletic gifts of his parents that enabled him to be drafted at Pick 50 from North Adelaide in 2015.
Markov’s career at Richmond coincided with their transformation from also-rans to an emerging dynasty. He debuted in his first season to play the last eight games after the 2016 season was a foregone conclusion for the Tigers, winning his first match and scoring his first goal against the Bombers.
In 2017 he was in and out of the senior side, although he gained invaluable experience in the VFL, playing in the grand final loss to Port Melbourne at season’s end while his teammates celebrated a grand final win.
(Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
The 2018 and 2019 seasons were frustrating for Markov. He managed only two AFL games, which were both rare losses in what was Richmond’s most dominant period. Injuries and the persistence of Richmond coaches to try to turn him into a medium-sized forward saw him fail to move up from the lower half of the list. He managed just ten VFL games in 2018, then 16 in 2019, including winning the VFL grand final.
In many ways 2020 was his breakout season, playing in six games, all wins, showing improved skills as understudy to Bachar Houli, who came back into the side in finals after spending much of the season absent on personal leave.
Unwilling to remain in the shadow of such an elite group of defenders, Markov chose the lifestyle of the Gold Coast, having spent the majority of the hub season wintering in the sunshine.
Markov tops 188 centimetres and weighs 82 kilograms, and at 24 years old he fits the Suns age profile perfectly. What’s more, he fits a defensive need that Stuart Dew has been searching for over his three seasons in charge. While the Gold Coast defence was much improved in 2020 with the development of Charlie Ballard, Jack Lukosius, Wil Powell and Connor Budarick, every club with an elite medium-sized forward were able to tear the defensive zone to pieces.
Markov appears to be the missing piece, providing a direct replacement for Pearce Hanley and allowing Jack Bowes to continue to develop as a defensive midfielder and quarterback-style player. Injury-free and coming into his prime years, Markov comes to the Suns as a complimentary roleplayer who is an instant best 22 selection and who immediately makes the team better for the bargain cost of a future third-round pick.
Markov brings the Suns number of South Australians up to ten, with the North Adelaide product joining Jack Lukosius (Woodville-West Torrens), Izak Rankine (West Adelaide), Jez Mclennan (Central District), Charlie Ballard (Sturt), Sam Day (Sturt), Jordan Murdoch (Glenelg), Chris Burgess (West Adelaide), Jack Hombsch (Sturt) and Sean Lemmens (Port Adelaide).
Add to that Nick Holman, who played his way back into the AFL for Central District in the SANFL after being delisted by Carlton, while Connor Budarick was born in South Australia before moving with his family to Queensland when he was nine years old. In fact Connor’s father, Craig, played 66 games and kicked 150 goals for Glenelg in the SANFL, earning draft selection from the Sydney Swans, but he never cracked an AFL debut due to injuries.
The South Australian connections don’t end there, with coach Stuart Dew coming from Central District in the SANFL and Port Adelaide in the AFL, winning Flags for both. Assistant coaches Tate Kaesler and Josh Francou both came from the Adelaide Crows coaching panel, with the former having played for North Adelaide and Sturt while the latter was a teammate of Dew at Port.
Of course the Suns’ enigmatic chairman, Tony Cochrane, also hails from South Australia, having been involved with the Sturt football club before going onto Supercars and relocating to the Gold Coast.
Many other South Australians have come and gone at the Suns over ten seasons, but notably none were among the infamous wantaways over the past five postseasons. In fact many formers Suns from SA have remained on the Gold Coast, such 40-gamer Seb Tape, who captained Southport Sharks to the 2018 NEAFL premiership.
With Markov’s arrival on Gold Coast shores the Suns continue to be the unofficial third South Australian club. Some day in the future punters at the Adelaide Oval win be cheering the Suns to victory over one of the local clubs with a vanguard of SA boys playing in front of their home fans.
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