Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
SUNS STINK IT UP
Has a side in recent memory with as much on the line played as poor a first quarter as Gold Coast did on Saturday?
If the complete domination of Brisbane wasn’t obvious enough, the statistics from a dire 30 minutes for the Suns had to be seen to be believed. And even then, looked at again to make sure there hadn’t been a printing error.
Try these on for size. Disposals: 126-36. Marks: 22-1. Contested possession: 50-21. Clearances 18-6. Inside 50s: 23-4. They’re the sort of numbers you’d expect to see in a lopsided under 12s game, not the AFL. Little wonder Suns’ coach Guy McKenna was still too angry to talk to his players when he conducted his post-game media conference.
If Gold Coast was hoping to finally shrug off the “no Ablett, no Suns” talk, it couldn’t have gone about doing so any worse than the lacklustre effort against the Bulldogs, and Saturday’s failure to turn up at all. And with games still to come against an improved Carlton, Port Adelaide and Essendon, the sun is rapidly setting on its hopes of a first finals appearance.
BRIGHT TIMES AHEAD FOR BRISBANE
Brisbane, in contrast to the Suns, produced its best performance of the season, one that not only highlighted the quality of its gun midfielders Tom Rockliff and Pearce Hanley, but just how many relatively raw Lions continue to make good progress, Jack Crisp, in his first game of the season, another good example.
No fewer than 14 of the Lions’ 22 on Saturday had played 58 games or fewer, including those who now pass for senior faces, such as Dayne Zorko, Rohan Bewick, Ryan Harwood and Ryan Lester.
It’s youth on a mass scale, and few of those who’ve been tried haven’t shown some very positive signs under first-year coach Justin Leppitsch. Indeed, Brisbane, for a side still in the bottom four, and with half as many wins as last year, has plenty of light at the end of the tunnel.
As have the other teams anchored near the foot of the ladder. Even for the also-rans, 2014 will finish with at least something over which to enthuse.
FIXTURING FAILS
It’s had plenty of air-time already as an issue, but if any weekend has driven home how far AFL scheduling has missed the mark in 2014, surely it’s the last two in the supposed heartland of the competition.
Sure there’s fewer games on offer in a split round, but not only has Melbourne hosted just four games across two Saturdays and two Sundays, three of them have come in the “deadest” time-slot of all, that of 4.40pm, neither a day game nor night, and as good as an open invitation to stay home and watch on TV.
Saturday night’s Hawthorn-Sydney classic in a now-traditional 7.40pm setting drew the sort of crowd becoming increasingly scarce in these parts. What a shame the next bit of action came nearly 24 hours later with too many fans already having tuned out again.