SUNS’ CHANCE TO SHINE ON BIG STAGE

LAURENCE ROSEN

With just nine rounds remaining in the 2023 premiership season, the race for the eight remains as tight as ever as a host of teams continue to jostle for a spot in September.

One of those is Gold Coast, which put its season-worst performance against Carlton a fortnight ago behind it to bounce back and record a resounding 67-point win over Hawthorn at Heritage Bank Stadium in the final game of round 15.

As the Suns eye off their maiden finals berth, coach Stuart Dew implored his team – which sits just percentage out of the eight – to seize the moment ahead of this weekend’s blockbuster clash against Collingwood.

“We’ve just got to keep fronting up, we were really pleased to get back to Heritage Bank Stadium and put on a good show for our fans that have obviously waited a while, it was a good crowd that turned up,” he said post-match last Sunday night.

“(We’re) really excited by next week (against Collingwood), we think big numbers will come for that and the atmosphere will be great, so (we’re) definitely keeping our eyes pretty low for the next opponent, obviously the biggest challenge of all, Collingwood.”

Ironically, it was also in round 16 and against the same opponent in 2014 where Gold Coast’s finals hopes came crashing down after

Gary Ablett’s now infamous shoulder injury.

While the Suns may have won that game and looked likely to play finals, they went on to lose six of their last seven matches to slide well outside the eight.

That match was played in front of a club record home crowd of 24,032 in 2014 and nine years later, the Suns are expected to go close to eclipsing that mark given a lot of Magpie fans will be heading north to escape Melbourne’s cold weather during school holidays.

It will be a feast of big-time football in Queensland this week with a big crowd also expected for the Brisbane Lions v Richmond clash at the Gabba on Thursday night.

This year’s Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees represent different and unique generations of our game.

Former Geelong stars JIMMY BARTEL and COREY ENRIGHT are bonded by a special era for the Cats; TOM LEAHY, MICHAEL AISH and MARK WILLIAMS were giants of South Australian football (and the AFL/VFL in Williams’ case); SAM MITCHELL is a feel-good story for any young player thought to be too small and too slow; and BRUCE Mc AVANEY was one of the great football broadcasters of our time.