Hit and miss Suns still in mix

Not for the first time, Gold Coast missed an opportunity at the MCG last weekend. Carlton was down and almost out, having lost its previous six games and with the general mood of its supporters shifting from anxiety to downright anger.

Had the Suns kicked straight, their 10-point lead at quarter-time could have been considerably greater, but based on general play in the opening stanza, they appeared to be 90 minutes off ending the weekend out of the eight only on percentage.

But what followed was a rampage, a 9.3 to 0.3 second term by the Blues, the second-most dominant quarter by any team this season.

It was the Blues who left the ground at the end of the game to rapturous applause while the vanquished Suns were soon the subject of more commentary around their wretched history, highlighted as always by their failure to make the finals since entering the AFL in 2011.

Gold Coast’s capitulation was even more disappointing considering what a fine fortnight it had enjoyed coming into last week’s game.

Playing out of their second home at TIO Stadium, the Suns enjoyed impressive wins over Western Bulldogs and Adelaide.

They outmuscled and out-hunted two clubs firmly in the mix to play finals this year.

But where the external noise around the Suns projected all sorts of doom and gloom, and not withstanding that there is a real urgency within the club to smash that finals hoodoo once and for all, what was telling in the aftermath of the loss to the Blues was the messaging, one of it being a “missed opportunity”. Nothing more. Nothing less.

It was just a bad day at the football, the type every club, even ladder leaders Port Adelaide and Collingwood, have experienced this year.

Coach Stuart Dew handled the post-match questions with aplomb.

He’s had plenty of practice at facing up after difficult defeats, but he spoke earnestly and with confidence last Sunday.

There was no suggestion he is a coach under pressure because in his mind he isn’t.

“I don’t think we’ve failed the test; we’ve lost a game of footy that we’d like to have won,” he said.

“Could we have played a lot better? Certainly. If we were to lose, we would have liked to have lost with a little bit more fight than we showed today.”

The post-match questions were the right ones.

The Suns are one of a bunch of mid-table teams that could yet make the finals, or flounder to a bottomfive finish.

Look at Fremantle – world-beaters after knocking over Melbourne three weeks ago and now mired in 13th place after dreadful outings against Richmond and GWS Giants.

It is probably time for the narrative around the Suns to change and it starts with the coach. He shouldn’t be seen as soon-to-be-unemployed with every defeat.

Nor should there be this assumption that Damien Hardwick is ready and waiting to take his job. What often gets forgotten in the hysteria around coaching tenures is the incredibly deep ties many AFL coaches share.

Dew and Hardwick are close friends –Port Adelaide premiership teammates in 2004 who later reunited as player and assistant coach in Hawthorn’s 2008 premiership year and who more recently chose to pair up on Fox Footy’s AFL360 coaches’ night appearances. When Hardwick stepped away from the Tigers last month, Dew sent him a cheeky text with the understanding of the media intrigue about his own future that it would inevitably spark.

Hardwick is yet to outright declare he wants to coach again, but would he take over at the Suns if he believed his mate Dew was unjustly treated? Unlikely.

So cool the jets on talk of Dew warming the seat for Hardwick.

The Suns are going OK. Perhaps even better than that. Mind you, they need a win over Hawthorn back at Metricon Stadium on Sunday.

The Hawks are also coming along well. But right now, Gold Coast is a better team and the scoreboard this week needs to reflect that.

@hashbrowne