By Marc McGowan
It was the record-setting night that embarrassed Geelong and potentially marked Gold Coast’s belated arrival as an AFL force.
After trailing by three points at quarter-time, master coach Damien Hardwick’s high-octane Suns kicked seven, eight and seven goals in the next three quarters in oppressive conditions in Darwin on Thursday night to pulverise the Cats by 64 points.
An error from Geelong handed Gold Coast’s Jack Lukosius a gimme goal to start what became an avalanche of goals in their match.Credit: Seven
“We moved the ball well [and] defended well. The last quarter, as a typical coach, you are frustrated with the seven goals either way, but I think both sides were out on their feet and the defence just dropped away,” said Hardwick of the high-scoring flow.
Gold Coast’s 26.8 (164) scoreline was the highest tally in the club’s 14-year history – beating the 148 points they piled up against the Giants 11 years ago – and the most in any game this season.
The winning margin was also the 6-4 Suns’ best-ever against Geelong, who have suddenly suffered three consecutive defeats to spoil their 7-0 start in response to missing finals last year as the reigning premiers.
The combined 264 points between the clubs was also the biggest of all matches to date in 2024, and was the third contest where both teams amassed at least 100 points – but the result was of concern for Cats coach Chris Scott.
Cats’ rotation bust
The excuse is they went into battle without Jeremy Cameron (concussion), Patrick Dangerfield (hamstring) and Sam De Koning (hamstring tightness), plus managed trio Tom Hawkins, Mitch Duncan and Rhys Stanley. However, Gold Coast were playing off a five-day break and their third game in 11 days.
“We’ve been aware for a good three weeks now, besides 15 minutes [against Port Adelaide last week] that we’ve been a little bit off,” Scott said.
“We got beaten by some good players around the ball. It was a very unusual scoreline — to give up that many is unusual for us, and the stats aren’t any better for us.
“We didn’t get our hands on the ball, and we didn’t handle the conditions well enough ... it’s not like we have a history of playing this poorly.
“It’s clear that we’re off, and we have some problems we need to fix. It’s a balance between not glossing over it – and we’re not going to do that – but we’re also not going to overreact.”
Individual brilliance
Scott was not kidding about those “good” Gold Coast players around the Sherrin. Ascendant star Noah Anderson, who was the Suns’ club champion last season, amassed a career-most 42 disposals, a solo tally that bettered Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes’ ground-record 41 against the Western Bulldogs in Darwin in 2008.
Anderson also kicked two goals, had 15 score involvements, almost 700 metres gained, six inside 50s and four clearances.
Jack Lukosius (left) and Bailey Humphrey celebrate.Credit: AFL Photos
Matt Rowell and Sam Flanders also racked up personal-best disposal games with 35 and 37, respectively. Rowell had eight clearances, 10 tackles and was involved in 11 scores, while Flanders rounded out his performance with seven intercept possessions, five rebound 50s and seven score involvements.
Top End specialist Jack Lukosius set the tone with three goals in the first term and five for the night, on top of five goal assists among 12 score involvements. Only ex-Bulldogs champion Brad Johnson has kicked more goals at TIO Stadium than Lukosius.
This effort followed Lukosius booting five majors in each of the Suns’ two Darwin matches last year in a triumphant return to the forward line after Hardwick used a Happy Days metaphor mid-week to apologise for playing him in defence.
Humphrey (left) and Noah Anderson celebrate another Suns goal.Credit: AFL Photos
“You know the ‘Fonz’ … he couldn’t say the word ‘wrong’,” Hardwick said.
“We tried him back, he went forward and looked really dynamic, looked a class above, so he’ll play forward this week. Hopefully, it’s a long-term one and the coach doesn’t ... put him down back [again].
“One thing I pride myself on is I’m open and honest that I don’t get things right all the time. I like to be very strong in my decisions, but it doesn’t mean they’re right all the time, so we went through that.”
Another first-round draftee, Bailey Humphrey, helped himself to five goals, too, and spearhead Ben King’s four moved him into the outright lead in the Coleman Medal race with 29.
What does this result mean?
Gold Coast were a fairly popular pick to finally make finals for the first time after hiring Richmond’s triple premiership coach Hardwick for this season.
Hardwick has a talented list at his disposal and there are not surprisingly some similarities to his Tiger days in how he wants his new side to play. The Suns have scored 99 or more points five times this season, including posting totals of 164, 120 and 112 in the past month.
They are provisionally up to sixth spot with six wins from 10 games ahead of a trip to Marvel Stadium on Saturday week to face Carlton.
The Blues famously transformed their season last year with a 59-point shellacking of Gold Coast in round 14.
Gold Coast face Essendon (home), St Kilda (away), Fremantle (away) and Collingwood (home) in a difficult month after the Carlton clash, so they have an opportunity to prove themselves in a tricky period.
As for Geelong, their fast start to the season means they are still inside the top two at this stage, but the Bombers, Demons, Giants, Power and Blues could all overtake them this round.
Scott won’t allow any panic to set in at the Cattery, but they are clearly more fallible these days with many of the club’s veterans in their twilight years and the emerging youth still finding consistency at the top level.
Geelong, too, have a challenging fixture ahead, starting with the Giants at GMHBA Stadium next week, then lowly Richmond (GMHBA), top team Sydney (SCG), Carlton (MCG) and resurgent Essendon (MCG).
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