Gold Coast Suns coach Stuart Dew has warned his floundering team that another sloppy performance like the display against Carlton would struggle to beat any AFL team, let alone a red-hot Western Bulldogs squad.
The Gold Coast outfit slipped to a 1-3 record on Saturday after the 11-point loss to the Blues with Dew lamenting his team’s poor decision-making and error rate.
Gold Coast committed an ugly 81 turnovers against the Blues, who led at every change on their way to the 9.16 (70) to 8.11 (59) victory.
With the unbeaten Western Bulldogs next up on Saturday at Marvel Stadium, Dew knows a much-improved effort is needed by his entire squad to have any chance of stopping Luke Beveridge’s in-form team.
“You can’t play like that against anyone to be fair, you won’t get it done,” Dew said.
“The Bulldogs, watched them today, impressive. They are fierce in the contest, they spread well, have some firepower up forward.
“Absolutely no one is going to pick us so we’ve got to pick ourselves up. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We stick together and get going.”
Having come up short in three close matches against West Coast, Adelaide and Carlton, Dew says it is only his players who can turn the Suns’ stuttering campaign around if they’re not to have another season languishing in the lower half of the ladder.
“We’ve got to get over this hump. We haven’t as yet,” he said.
“We certainly feel like we are close. We are in the conversation. Is that where we want to be? No. But it is a part of our DNA that we try to get instilled in the boys that they are in the game.
“We certainly have to learn to win. We feel like when we get over the hump, we’ll be in good shape.”
Blitz
Guest
Jarrad Schofield is worth talking to also. 7 flags under his belt - 4 as player (1 x AFL, 3 x WAFL) and 3 as coach (WAFL). He arrived at Alberton in 2019 as midfield coach. Voss arrived as mid coach in 2015 - Ports recent rIse may be a clue?
The Ghost
Guest
They should be on the blower to Michael Voss pronto.
Frankie321
Roar Rookie
The Suns have been cruelled by injuries, to Rowell and Witts. It's no excuse, but keep it in mind. As a South East Queensland AFL fan, I would love to be more enthusiastic about the Suns, as I think many others would also be. But I'm tired of the years of poor performance on field. If they could at least, finally, get to mid table, the crowds will come. I never understood why the Suns' management thought Stuart Dew would be the saviour of the team.
2dogz
Roar Rookie
Even half of those games would be 50/50
fractal pixie
Guest
Apart from North, the only clubs I can see the Suns beating are Fremantle, GWS (at Metricon), Adelaide (at Metricon), Essendon (at Metricon), and Hawthorn (at Metricon). I can’t see them winning more than 6 games.
The Ghost
Guest
In ten years this club has gone nowhere. Big things were promised this year, yet they have had their worst start to the season in quite some time. We were told that they would be 3 from 4, at this stage, instead they are 1 from 3, with their only win against the probable wooden spooners. Dew is not the person to take this club forward. If the white shoe brigade, and happy clappers who run the club cared, they would give Dew the tap on the shoulder. Michael Voss would bring some belief and toughness to the Suns. Right now this club stands for nothing. Enough is enough.