Tune into SUNS TV to hear more from Guy McKenna

By Michael Whiting

Gold Coast SUNS coach Guy McKenna is playing down the importance of Saturday's visit from Port Adelaide, saying he was still not interested in wins and losses.

Since the start of the 2012 campaign, McKenna has preached improvement within games, with results taking care of themselves.

And even with a 0-8 record and facing the SUNS historic first victim from last year, he refused to budge on his expectations.

McKenna said he saw signs of improvement in Saturday's38-point loss to the Western Bulldogs but would look for much more come theweekend.

"Every week's a chance to win," McKenna said.

"We can't draw any more lines in the sand, we'll be playing naughts and crosses.

"It's just another opportunity for us to prepare well and prepare to play for 120 minutes and that's been our goal since round one.

"We think we have the mechanics in place as far as ourstructures go, the dynamics with the players buying in, and the discipline to stick to those structures.

"The thing that has let us down ultimately is the effort for the full 120 minutes."

Despite his contract expiring at the end of the season, the SUNS coach said he was comfortable they were still moving forward.

Gold Coast has played just three matches at home this season, losing by 69 points in round one against rampant Adelaide and surrendering fourth quarter leads against both Essendon and Fremantle.

As the SUNS celebrate the 12-month anniversary of Metricon Stadium opening, McKenna said it was another opportunity to break their home duck and one they looked forward to.

After dropping Jared Brennan and Trent McKenzie ahead of the Bulldogs match, the Suns' coach said there were no guarantees they would return this weekend.

"If you're out of the side, you've got to fight your way back into the side," he said.

"It has a lot to do with your performance in the seconds and how the senior side goes as well.

"I'm only one voice on the match committee but I thought in general the effort was better on the weekend, so the boys outside the side might find it harder to get in."

Following his move of playing captain Gary Ablett in the back half for the first two quarters at the weekend, McKenna said he was unlikely to do likewise against Port. 

The NEAFL SUNS have returned to the winners list for the first time in a month with a comfortable 61 point over Redlands Bombers at Victoria Point on Saturday.

After a relatively slow start, the SUNS unleashed a 10 goal blitz in the second quarter to break the game open and eventually run out 24.15 (159) to 14.14 (98) victors.

Coach Shaun Hart said the SUNS were initially caught off guard by the Bombers, but recovered well.
“We got jumped at the start, it was four goals to nothing very early on,” he said.

“But by quarter time we had leveled it up, and in the second quarter we came out and kicked 10 goals and eventually won by about that.

“It was a pretty good performance overall.”

Hart said despite the win, the SUNS still had plenty of scope for improvement.

“We just started to do a number of things a bit better but we still have a fair about of improvement in us,” he said.

“I probably rated us about a six out of ten effort overall.”

“It was a much better defensive performance, as was our forward half ball movement.”

The SUNS swung the axe at senior level after last weekend’s disappointing loss to the Giants, and there were mixed results from the most high profile casualties, Jared Brennan and Trent McKenzie, from Hart.

“Jared struggled to find the footy and have the game I expected he could have had at this level,” he said.

“Trent got a hold of the footy a bit but was probably inconsistent with his kicking, but his general effort was pretty good.”

Two SUNS who earned big ticks form Hart were Alik Magin and Maveric Weller.

“Our best couple were Magin and Weller,” he said.

“Weller played his best game for the year without a doubt. He was bullocking and played the role he needed to play at all stages of the game.”

“Magin was fantastic. He kicked three goals in seven minutes in the second quarter playing the small forward role.”

Others who put in strong performances for the SUNS were Tom Hickey, Aaron Hall and Josh Hall.

“Tom Hickey was terrific in the ruck, really controlling the stoppages and taking a whole heap of marks around the game.”

“Aaron Hall was zippy all day and really used his speed well at both ends.”

“Josh Hall took some great contested marks and kicked three goals, and played a centre half forward type role.”

The SUNS win lifted them to fourth (5 wins, 3 losses) on the NEAFL Northern Conference ladder heading into a conference bye next weekend, before heading to Sydney to take on the Swans on the 3rd June.

GOLD COAST SUNS 3.7 13.8 17.11 24.15 (159)
REDLAND 4.3 8.5 11.9 14.14 (98)

GOALS: Josh Fraser 5, Alik Magin 4, Josh Hall 3, Lewis Moss 2, Tom Hickey 2, Mitchell Hopkins 2, Trent McKenzie, Jared Brennan, Josh Macanash, Nic Ellis, Jaegar O’Meara, Jacob Gillbee.

BEST: Alik Magin, Maverick Weller, Tom Hickey, Aaron Hall, Josh Hall, Josh Toy, Jackson Allen, Josh Fraser. 

By Ben Collins

GOLD COAST coach Guy McKenna has defended his use of Gary Ablett in the back half, and also hinted he would continue to experiment with his skipper outside the centre square to accelerate the development of the Suns' young midfielders.

To the surprise of many, Ablett spent much of the night in the back half during the Suns' 38-point loss to the Western Bulldogs at Darwin's TIO Stadium on Saturday night.

The 2010 Brownlow medallist still managed equal game-high tallies of possessions (29 – way down on his pre-match season average of 38.6) and tackles (nine), but precious little of his work was done in the midfield.

Ablett ran forward in the opening minute of the match and launched a long ball that sailed through for a behind, but he was rarely sighted forward of centre for the rest of the first half.

He was subjected to a heavy tag from specialist stopper Liam Picken, who also received welcome assistance from his teammates, who also niggled the superstar any chance they got.

It was the inevitability of this match-up that prompted McKenna's change of plan for his skipper, who he said had played "a selfless role".

"We obviously knew that Picken was going to go to him. We always end up following the opposition (in relation to Ablett's opponent) and they always end up dumping their forward line, so we got a bit of our own back," he said.

"The first half we thought that worked really well – we had 50 possessions more than the Doggies, so we were actually winning it and moving it forward."

The plan changed after half-time, with the Suns deciding to use Ablett on the ball more to give them a better chance of kicking a winning score.

"But they arrested the possessions and late in the third quarter we put him behind the ball again to see if we could stop the bleeding a bit," he said.

The Suns will no doubt continue to experiment with Ablett at either end to fast-track the progress of their youth.

When Ablett was out for two games with a knee problem, the youngsters stepped up in the midfield and McKenna liked what he saw. As he did for much of Saturday night.

"The weeks he'd been out I think the boys had grown, and I thought today again they still took a step forward with him (not in) the centre," he said.

The Suns had also made progress in the hardness department after being roundly labeled soft following their shock loss to Greater Western Sydney last week.

Against the Bulldogs, a hardball side, they performed admirably in the contested possession count, losing by just seven (159-152).

"The boys certainly stuck their head over the ball (and) I certainly can’t fault their effort," McKenna said.

"If they compete like they did today, they'll give themselves a chance to win next week, the week after, and for the rest of the season." 

THE WESTERN Bulldogs woke from their slumber after halftime to see off a determined Gold Coast SUNS unit by 38 points in Saturday night's AFL clash at Darwin's TIO Stadium.

The SUNS went into the long break with a deserved three-point lead afterdominating crucial periods of the first half.

But Gold Coast's wayward return of 2.9 came back to haunt them, with the Bulldogs booting seven goals to two in the second half to set up the 9.18 (72) to 4.10 (34) win in front of 8724 fans.

Suns skipper Gary Ablett, who played the majority of the game acrosshalf-back, looked bothered by a leg injury as he attempted to shake off a tight tag from Liam Picken.

Ablett also copped a physical battering from several of Picken'steammates, with the Bulldogs using every opportunity to target the 28-year-old, who finished with 29 possessions.

League convert Karmichael Hunt tallied 16 first-half possessions beforefading, while upgraded rookie Kyal Horsley continued his bright start to his career with another busy effort.

Bulldogs midfielder Matthew Boyd, defender Brian Lake and 150-gamemilestone man Ryan Griffen were influential in the result, while late inclusion Zephaniah Skinner booted a memorable 50m goal off just onestep in the final quarter.

Since losing their opening three games of the season, the Bulldogs havewon four of their past five to get back within striking distance of the top-eight.

The Dogs' victims have included Melbourne, GWS, North Melbourne and Gold Coast, but a true test of their top-eight credentials will come over the next fortnight when they take on Geelong and Sydney (SCG).

The SUNS are yet to win a game this season, but led North Melbourne andFremantle at half-time, and Essendon and GWS at three-quarter time before being overrun.

Gold Coast SUNS midfielder Harley Bennell looked the worse for wear in theopening quarter after copping an off-the-ball bump from the Bulldogs' Dylan Addison.

Although the bump didn't appear overly malicious, it was well off theball and Addison faces a nervous wait to see whether the match review panel decides to lay any charges.

Bennell returned to the fray after several minutes, and booted a crucial goal in the second quarter as the SUNS entered the long break with a slender lead.

But the game was blown open in the third quarter as the Bulldogs creatednumerous opportunities up forward.

WESTERN BULLDOGS 1.3 2.6 6.12 9.18 (72)
GOLD COAST 1.5 2.9 3.10 4.10 (34)

GOALS

Western Bulldogs: Liberatore, Jones, Giansiracusa, Dahlhaus, Cordy, Grant,
Higgins, Picken, Skinner
Gold Coast: Lynch, Bennell, Prestia, Smith

BEST
Western Bulldogs: Lake, Griffen, Boyd, Cross, Wallis, Liberatore, Picken
Gold Coast: Stanley, Ablett, Caddy, Horsley, Iles, Shaw, Prestia

INJURIES
Western Bulldogs: Nil
Gold Coast: Nil

SUBSTITUTES
Western Bulldogs: Zephaniah Skinner replaced Ayce Cordy at
three-quarter-time.
Gold Coast: Alex Sexton replaced Seb Tape in the third quarter.

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Hay, Wenn, Ryan, Fleer

Official crowd: TBC at TIO Stadium.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs. 

Karmichael Hunt says the arrival of the annual Rugby League Origin period has steeled his desire to help steer the SUNS to the finals in coming years so he can again experience big time football.

Hunt showed his immunity to pressure last weekend and was among only a handful of SUNS players coach Guy McKenna could walk away from the loss to GWS with their heads held high.

He said he loved playing Origin during his career in rugby league because it was played at an intensity that home and away club football could not match.

A taste of September action for the SUNS remains one of the few missing achievements in his remarkable career and Hunt said a finals appearance would be the closest match to his league representative experiences.

He said in any code, premierships had to be the pinnacle but that doesn't mean he wouldn't love to see the AFL re-introduce rep footy and believes it can be just as successful as it is in rugby league.

"Personally, I think winning a premiership with your team mates is at the very top but they are not that easy to do,'' he said.

"Rep footy gives everyone a chance to experience a truly big game with all the fanfare and crowds that come with them."

And finals and rep footy are played at an intensity that just isn't matched by home and away matches, they are the ultimate test.''

But he insists it would only work if the coaches supported the concept as they do in league where club's consider it a source of pride if they produce representative level players.

"If they did I'd do everything in my power to get a game,'' he said.

"There is no reason why State footy can't work, it would just take total commitment.

"It won't work if the best players aren't involved."