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Opinion
At the end of 2019, a battered Gold Coast side limped to the club’s second wooden spoon in nine years, on the back of 18 losses in a row and growing calls for the franchise to be relocated to Tasmania.
But GC17 had been the vehicle which helped propel Gillon McLachlan to become CEO in waiting and the executive team led by Mark Evans and Tony Cochrane had a comprehensive plan which the AFL commission found compelling enough to tick off three-quarters of the requests.
While the Suns didn’t get extra salary cap money, what they did get was access to pre-list players from their own academy and from the Darwin zone, which may turn out to be better than the priority picks in the long run.
Technically, the Suns got Matt Rowell with the Pick 1 priority, however, since they already had Pick 1 it is fair to say that Noah Anderson was the bonus, both for the talent he’s shown placing second in the rising star and the insurance policy he represents to keep the best player of his generation at the Suns.
The other priority picks were devalued to the point that Pick 22 was only worth climbing six places from 17 to 11, despite being worth the combined equivalent of Pick 5 according to the AFL Draft Value Index, while Geelong was able to shift out of Pick 27 for future Pick 11, although the pick slid to Pick 15 in the draft.
So while the Suns’ priority picks have yielded Noah Anderson, Sam Flanders and Jeremy Sharp, with next year’s end of first-round priority pick worth roughly the same as the other half of the pick trade for Flanders (if the priority concession, which was frozen by the AFL Commission, doesn’t get cancelled altogether), there’s a comparison that will be drawn in years to come that may surprise.
The Suns pre-listed Connor Budarick, Malcolm Rosas Junior and Matthew Conroy last year, with the former playing 15 games and earning a rising star nomination and the others developing in the hub scratch matches.
However, this year’s Academy crop is next level, with the AFL even intervening to belatedly require the Suns to make two places available on their primary list to accommodate Alex Davies and Joel Jeffrey, who were evaluated as first-round talents, while Budarick was also elevated to the senior list.
In what was a poorly concealed secret, Suns Academy defenders Rhys Nicholls and Aiden Fyfe were put straight onto the Suns’ rookie list, although as the four were not nominated in the open draft it became obvious that they were pre-listed despite no announcement coming for a week after it became common knowledge.
Other openly known roster moves were that Jacob Townsend would come to the Suns through the rookie draft, while the club finally formally added PNG dynamo “Ace” Hewago Paul Oea as their second international Category B rookie.
These machinations added to the free agency acquisition of Adelaide wingman Rory Atkins and trade of a future third-round pick for Richmond rebounding defender Oleg Markov meant that the Suns only had one live pick they were able to use in the draft, so they tried to facilitate trades to move up the order or get points in the 2021 draft to use on matching bids for Suns Academy players.
Having been lowballed in the trade for Peter Wright, Gold Coast wanted to use their second-round picks to get up the order in a trade with North Melbourne in a win-win deal that would give the Suns Pick 2 and freedom to choose from four of the “fantastic five” instead of getting whatever player fell to them.
Unfortunately, the Kangaroos also had complex dealings going on with player trades and so the Suns moving up the order never eventuated, so they shifted out Picks 27 and 37 (which were used at 33 and as points by Sydney to match bids) for Melbourne’s future third-round pick via Geelong and Sydney’s future third-round pick.
These pick trades were roundly criticised, yet securing picks in the third round represents enough DVI points to potentially match a bid on a Suns Academy player from the late first to second rounds in 2021 when it is believed they will lose pre-listing privileges.
As it turns out, after coming very close to picking Elijah Hollands with their first pick, Adelaide picked a homegrown product, while North went with the other highly-rated midfielder at the top of the draft, while Sydney went for a tall forward, Hawthorn went for a tall back and suddenly the Suns got their man at Pick 7 who could have easily been taken earlier.
There’s never been a player happier to come to the Gold Coast Suns than Elijah Hollands, who has come through the AFL talent pathways with close friend Alex Davies and now they’ll be playing together for the same AFL club.
(Photo by Mark Dadswell/Getty Images)
Hollands was viewed as a number one draft prospect before his ACL injury set him back and saw him slide. He is a high impact player in the forward line with the ability to rotate through the midfield. The current AFL player comparison has to be Dustin Martin, although that’s a high ceiling and for now he’ll join Suns foundation player Rory Thompson in the rehab group.
Davies is a contested ball-winning inside midfielder with crazy potential to be the next Marcus Bontempelli, the latter being exactly the same measurements when he was drafted. He’s in the mould of the modern inside mid who impacts the play whether his side is in possession or not.
Jeffrey is a utility who can play forward or back, though his intercept marking and the Suns’ need for defenders who can play tall or short means he’s likely going to be developed to join the young back six, guided by Jarrod Harbrow in his final year. Kevin Sheehan compares him with Tom Stewart, which is just what the Gold Coast needs.
Fyfe is a ball running outside midfielder who blitzed the draft combine as one of the overall top performers across a range of Tests. He was one of Broadbeach’s best performers in a losing QAFL grand final, streaking down the wings to drive the ball inside 50 as he showed he was a class above.
Nicholls is a rebounding defender who played halfback flank and wing for Labrador in this year’s truncated QAFL season. He fits the Pearce Hanley replacement criteria and will compete for a starting spot as the opportunities for pacy medium defenders are wide open at the moment due to so many delistings.
Ace is two months away from showing AFL fans across the broader competition what the hype is all about after spending the season playing scratch matches against AFL-listed opponents in the hub and acquitting himself well enough to officially earn his list spot. The Suns really need to give this kid the number one jersey.
Markov and Atkins both come cheaply, joining old teammates at the Suns and filling positions of need. They are likely best 22 starters in Round 1, although the competition for spots is going to be the most even and fiercely-contested in a long time.
The Gold Coast now have a solid nucleus which they can build around for the next decade, with a whole starting 22 under 30 and an age profile that has stabilised for the first time in ten years.
Watch the Suns rise and rise again, like a veritable phoenix from the ashes.
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