Gold Coast
Coach – Damien Hardwick
2024 –
Points For – 11th
Points Against – 12th
Top 5 Best and Fairest
- Sam Collins
- Bodhi Uwland
- Sam Flanders
- Matt Rowell
- Noah Anderson
2024 Rising Star Noms
Jake Rogers (Rnd 7)
Bodhi Uwland (Rnd 12)
Will Graham (Rnd 16)
Ins – Cooper Bell, Asher Eastham, Zak Evans, Lachlan Gulbin, Elliott Himmelberg, Max Knobel, Leo Lombard, John Noble, Daniel Rioli
Outs – Rory Atkins, Sandy Brock, Levi Casboult, Sam Day, Brandon Ellis, Oskar Faulkhead, Jack Lukosius, Darcy Macpherson, Jack Mahony, Herago Oea, Will Rowlands, James Tsitas
My Prediction
Feels like Dimma got a bit of a reality check last year. The problems at the Suns aren’t just poor coaching, it is a culture so deeply broken and a playing list so over rated that it was going to take a miracle to meet the expectations he had set. The question now is whether Hardwick is just another sugar hit for the eight people that actually care about this team or are they turning a corner.
The backline reads ok. Collins is a very good full back and they have Ballard and the million dollar baby Mac Andrew as support. Uwland was very good last year and alongside Noble and Rioli will give them plenty of class and drive off of half back. It looks like the backline is probably their strongest area on the field if they leave it as is. The risk is moving players out to support other areas.
The midfield is top heavy. They have big bodied contested ball players everywhere, Flanders, Rowell, Anderson is a pretty handy engine room. Swallow and Clohesy provide support but I think they still lack class. Will be interesting to see if they try and move Rioli into the middle for his ball use or if they persist in using Ainsworth through the middle. They lack depth in the middle and class but they will beat you up over the ball.
The forward line is average. They have unrealised potential a plenty in Ben King, Ainsworth and Humphrey. They used Miller off the half forward line a bit last year but they may need him through the middle as well. Read and Walter up forward certainly make them a tall forward line and I don’t see enough pressure players to stop the ball bouncing back out as easily as it did last year.
Witts is aging but still a quality ruck. He wins his fair share of hit outs and is surprisingly effective around the ground. The coach, much like his mate at North is a flawed individual trying to cement his legacy and show that he wasn’t just in charge of a good list when he collected all the cups. I actually don’t know if he has the list just yet but he has time and he has the AFL on his side so at some stage I expect some level of success up there.
I don’t like their list. I think it is unbalanced and shallow. They lack depth and are only ever an injury or two away from disaster. They don’t travel well and lack class. I don’t think they are ready to play finals yet but I do think they are better than last year. I think they are likely to finish in the 9-12 range.
