The sadness factory of the AFL has manufactured some more of it, with Gold Coast botching the exit of Stuart Dew.
Dew walks away with his tail between his legs, just as Rodney Eade and Guy McKenna did before him. McKenna and Dew each had a highest placed finish of 12th on the ladder, while Eade could only muster 15th.
McKenna, of course, was the stiffest of the lot, and it’s laughable to look back on his 2014 sacking now given the circumstances around it and what has happened to this wretched club since.
2014 was Gold Coast’s fourth season in the competition and after Round 16 they sat eighth on the ladder with a finals berth on the agenda. They had just defeated Collingwood in one of the club’s best wins but Gary Ablett, who had won the 2013 Brownlow, would have won 2014 by a street and was in the form of his career, went down with a shoulder injury.
Both club and player were never the same again.
Gary Ablett Junior in his Gold Coast days. (Photo by Jason O’Brien/AFL Media/Getty Images)
McKenna was sacked within three months, after the Suns slid to finish a mere two wins outside the eight. Ablett still played some fine football for the club, but injuries and waning enthusiasm for life on the Gold Coast saw him return to Geelong at the end of 2017.
Funnily enough, GWS also finished their fourth season two wins outside the eight, and Leon Cameron was to coach them for another seven years, including to a grand final and multiple preliminary finals.
Gold Coast went from an untried coach to a proven one in Rodney Eade, which was a disaster from the outset. Eade was 57 in his first season at the Suns, and whether he couldn’t connect with a young group or the game had passed him by, he was jettisoned with three games left in his third season.
Back to a younger coach the Suns went, with Dew yet to celebrate his 40th birthday but having won premierships as a player at Port Adelaide and Hawthorn, as well as being a highly rated assistant coach at Sydney under John Longmire.
As is often the way of a rebuilding club and particularly those that are in a perpetual rebuild, Dew went backwards to go forward, winning the wooden spoon in his second season before attempting a steady rise.
After finishes of 14th (five and a half wins in a shortened season) and 16th (seven wins) through the tumultuous COVID years of 2020-21, the wheel looked to have turned last season, with the Suns once again finishing two wins outside the eight. Their 10 wins equaled the highest amount in their history and Dew achieved a percentage of over 100 for the first time.
It was Gold Coast’s best season.
Stuart Dew. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
Bear in mind that in Stuart Dew’s time, Gold Coast have lost Tom Lynch, Steven May, Peter Wright, Adam Saad, and Izak Rankine. Jarrod Witts and Ben King missed entire seasons in 2020 and 2021 respectively, while Touk Miller is just back after missing three months of football.
Most people would have been expecting the Suns to finish somewhere around 9th-13th this year, which is about where they’ll land. They are nowhere near the complete package yet, but were the board expecting a top four finish?
In the lead-up to their bye this year Gold Coast played some of the best and most consistent footy in their history. They beat North Melbourne, Richmond, West Coast, Western Bulldogs and Adelaide, lost to Melbourne by five points and Brisbane at the Gabba.
In the last three weeks the Suns have beaten Hawthorn and lost to Collingwood and Port Adelaide, by far the best two teams in the competition.
However, there was a game in-between the two sets referenced above. What’s clear now is that Gold Coast’s humiliating loss to Carlton in Round 14 was the coach-killer it looked like at the time.
Specifically the second quarter, when the horribly out-of-form Blues (having lost six games in a row) kicked 9.3 to 0.3.
You have to think that’s when the behind-the-scenes murmurings started.
The first half against Collingwood two weeks later might have been what sealed Dew’s fate. A sold-out home game against the top side, fighting for a spot in the eight, and the Suns kick 1.4 to 11.6 before the main break.
The fact Damien Hardwick left Richmond a month before Gold Coast were inept against Carlton must also be a huge factor here. Three time premiership coaches don’t come on the market often, and it’s easy to see the Suns being seduced by the big name and glittering CV.
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
As we are seeing with Alastair Clarkson and North Melbourne though, it is not always smooth sailing. You can’t always bottle lightning again. Dennis Pagan and Mick Malthouse at Carlton, and Malcolm Blight at St Kilda, can attest to that.
Ultimately, all points of view are valid here. Dew has had almost six seasons to get Gold Coast into finals and hasn’t done it. Some will look at their ruthlessness as a sign of maturity.
On the other hand, from winning the wooden spoon four years ago, you’d say they are tracking okay and any history prior to 2019 shouldn’t be used against Dew.
What is beyond argument is how poorly the Suns have handled his sacking, the sign of a poor organisation. When Caroline Wilson can be so accurate in her reporting a week ago, it means the leaks from the club are profound.
Decisions had clearly been made but not communicated. Dew was left hung out to dry, fighting a public battle that he had already lost. And CEO Mark Evans emphatically lied on public record and now looks a fool.
Next will come posturing from the Suns about process, when Hardwick will be their first, last and only plan for the next senior coach.
The AFL will never go back on their calamitous decision to expand into the Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney markets, but the Suns haven’t worked and will continue not to work.
It is probably too much to ask that they merge with a Victorian minnow like St Kilda or North Melbourne, which would be especially timely with the arrival of a Tasmanian team.
robertbrob13226
Roar Rookie
1 ,Saints boneheaded move Hannebery 4 years @$800 k per years , 2; Then the bonehead who recruited him is now CEO ,pretty hard to beat that Lethlean????
Wikipetia
Roar Rookie
so why did they take nothing. what research have you done? do i really care? not really. Richmond need YOU doing their list. we are in deep doo-doo. Jay Schultz - a relative miss (I liked him, happy to see him do well at Port) deledio/tambling, say no more Oakley Nicholls Vickery (Jack-Cotch-Dusty interspersed) Conca Ellis (Tigga) Lennon Ellis ***Rioli just a pass***** Higgins Collier Dawkins Dow ****gibcus jury out*** so richmond has a pretty dire history with first rounders over 20 years and has traded out guys like Higgins, Butler and lost Chol, all of whom I would have kept. and traded in robbie Tarrant. omg. i am not sure every club is as honest as that. but.............. winning covers up all the bruises. and you get away with it if you have history culture and depth. i think you can say Richmond have done just as bad as Gold Coast given their contexts. (yes got my rory mixed up. he was a former virtual pick 1. had a few good games, i liked him. .)
Macca
Roar Rookie
Casboult is averaging 1.1 goal per game 4.9 Marks and 4.8 hits outs - not exactly dominant. Richmond traded pick 24 for Rory Hilton but again, everyone does it once in a while, not 7 times in 6 years.
Wikipetia
Roar Rookie
so Casboult must be doing ok. Chol is 26 and has 10 years left. was good last year. richmond traded pick 1 for Rory Hilton. everyone does it.
Macca
Roar Rookie
" getting chol for almost nothing" - he has played just 6 games this year for 7 goals as they prefer Casboult. "They may well be paying casboult half of what they would have paid Wright?"Do you think Wright signed at the Bombers for big money originally? "weller? everyone has a weller." Everyone? Everyone knew at the time pick 2 was massive overs for him - it wasn't like they took him at the draft, they traded him in with AFL games under his belt. And you could almost excuse the Weller trade (or any of the trades) if they were in isolation but taken as a whole it is a very different thing - not 1 off errors but a clear pattern.
Macca
Roar Rookie
Players not wanting to go to the Suns doesn’t explain any of those trades and neither does players not wanting to stay – they had players and or draft picks and the gave them away for next to nothing. That is solely on the list management team. Martin wanted out – the BLues offered a second round pick and the Suns preferred to take nothing. Bowes & Greenwood wanted to stay but the Suns traded one and delisted the other. Lyons wanted to go the the Lions and the Suns delisted him so he could go rather than do a trade with the Lions. Not sure on Wright but the Suns wanted him out and traded him for a future 4th.
Wikipetia
Roar Rookie
they're an as yet unsuccessful club that most players don't want to go to. you can't just compare them to other clubs. what did the club say about Jack Martin et al? me, i wasn't watching, too busy celebrating :laughing:
Wikipetia
Roar Rookie
i explained re the cap. there is no C O L A cola, and they have to pay overs to try and keep guys up there. weller? everyone has a weller. richmond blew about 8 first round picks in a 12 year period, we just managed to jag cotch and dusty and jack and rance and vlastuin in the middle of it. peter wright? late bloomer? they may well be paying casboult half of what they would have paid Wright? they have King and Chol, i think they are fine for tall forwards. better off than richmond, anyway remember Josh Caddy kicked 40+ one season. that's wright. kicked 21 in his first bomber year. and 4 games this year. everyone trades players out. everyone trades players in. and you have to factor their good trades in. eg getting chol for almost nothing, helped them, cruelled us. --- i am not trying to be personal but it sounds like you really do know your stuff, i reckon Carlton need your insight!
Macca
Roar Rookie
What context could possibly explain these trades? 1) Jack Martin, Jarrod Lyons, Hugh Greenwood and Peter Wright walk out of the club for a grand total of a 2021 fourth round pick – They could have got a second rounder for Martin but let him walk to the PSD where the club that wanted him had first pick, they delisted Lyons and Greenwood despite them being best 22 players and they made it clear they didn’t want Peter Wright and now have Casboult playing the his role. 2) They traded pick 11 to get pick 27 to spend on a players who has played 23 games in 4 years – the only explanation I have got for this one (from Suns supprters) is that they didn’t need pick 11 becuase of all the other concessions they got 3) they traded Pick 7 and a best 22 former top 10 draft pick for a future third rounder – Now you can argue Salary dump but the question has to be asked how does the reigning premier have more cap space than the Suns who have never won more than 10 games – and even with the cap dump this seems exorbinant 4) They traded 2017 pick to which was used on Andrew Brayshaw but could have got LDU, Cerra or Naughton to bring in Weller who is a 20 possession a game HBF who has played 33 of the last 60 games. That is 7 terrible trades in the last 6 years – no other club has been that bad
Wikipetia
Roar Rookie
I don’t think they trade any better or worse then anyone else, when you consider the context
Macca
Roar Rookie
I don't think the have missed to often with who the drafted - but the have completely botched everything else to do with list management and their trading (or lack thereof by letting players walk for nothing) has been deplorable. And that is where it really starts getting interesting because you have all the concessions they have been given that have been wasted through terrible trades, or terrible trades that have been done becuase they knew they had massive draft concessions.
Wikipetia
Roar Rookie
awesome. the new Jakarta!
Wikipetia
Roar Rookie
yet even before that, there was no real competitiveness. maybe they just got early picks in a couple of weaker drafts? i mean, take a look. who's on that first intake and you go: "he was great, they blew it/him"? Charlie Dixon, maybe. https://www.draftguru.com.au/clubs/gold-coast#2009 they nailed the draft in 2010 with Swallow. Day. Caddy. Prestia. Lynch. they got 6 years + out of most of them. just none of them were from up there. they all wanted to go home, eventually. there wasn't quite enough to keep them. i see "mismanage your list" as an almost inevitable consequence of dumping a bunch of talented kids in the one place. older clubs are where they are as part of more natural 5 and 10 year evolutions, where they bring kids into an established group. rather than try and build a group out of mostly kids. they are also expected -it's demanded - that they make finals. no matter where the group was at. every year since ablett left. they don't get to rebuild because they didn't get to peak (unlike GWS). they get hammered for player retention, so they have to pay overs, so they get salary cap issues, so they don't cheat, they dump. and they get hammered for that. which template should they learned from? -- i'm a bit with Don on this. all other things being equal, I would rather have their list than richmond's going forward. of course it's a stupid comparison as we are coming down the mountain. but i don't think they have major list issues if they get fit and play together for a coach. it's possible the next 2-3 years will be the time that makes them. Chol is a good exemplar. would walk into Richmond team now, struggles up there due to the talent on their list. which will make what they did in 2020 etc part of their success. i guess my point is you can't - nobody can - just focus on 1-2 years and say that was what made them or that was cost them i still think these expansion clubs suffer from a Victorian bias. It's so scary, they will win everything. They are hopeless, they were given everything and won nothing. Get rid of them. a more nuanced evaluation will find there is truth in every position. om!
Non Serviam
Roar Rookie
Fact we are still bowing to the monarchy after their involvement in sacking a democratically elected pm is mind-blowing. If anything says republic it's Gough sacking rubber stamped by Liz and drafted by Chuck. Rant over
Macca
Roar Rookie
You need both, and the Suns had both but they massively mismanaged their list and didn't value the concessions they had high enough.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Yep. I'm responding to his suggestion that the whole place needs to move.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Ghost wants to move the whole Gold Coast...it's in the wrong place. Nothing about the team.
Wikipetia
Roar Rookie
The Long March. Starring Kevin Sheedy as Mao, and Leon Cameron as Damien Hardwick
Wikipetia
Roar Rookie
I think this suggests (not proves) that salary incentives could be more powerful than draft incentives. Or both need to work together Plenty of clubs rolled the dice on a top pick turning things around. Gold Coast were given heaps - it just multiplies the risk as much as the reward I think we will get a read from the AFL, when they set Tassie up, what they consider after two examples a fair way to set up a new team for a fair amount of fair competitiveness.
dargerovitch
Roar Rookie
Seeing you ask , Don ... upgrade Bellerive and York Park rather than the spending squillions on the new stadium most Tasmanians don't want , and the Devils can play half their home games in Hobart and half in Launceston. With Tassie's North-South divide - silly as it seems to us mainlanders- the Northerners won't go to Hobart for games.