Knowing that Damien Hardwick was available forced the Gold Coast Suns to sack Stuart Dew
The Suns sacking of Stuart Dew after publicly supporting him last week looks messy, was he ever going to survive, and who — apart from Damien Hardwick — are the contenders to replace him?
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Gold Coast will be roundly criticised for their weasel words in sacking Stuart Dew only a week after chief executive Mark Evans publicly backed him as the club’s man.
But the Suns’ decision on Monday night to move their coach on has echoes in the ruthless decisions made by a pair of Victorian clubs only 12 months ago.
If Damien Hardwick truly is available — and those close to him believe he is desperate to coach again next year — then it is hard to question the Suns’ reasoning.
Even if the last week was unnecessarily messy as loose lips meant Dew was put in the same horrible position most coaches are in their last days in charge.
On every level Hardwick shapes as an upgrade for a club that has spent 13 seasons hoping it has the right coach but never quite sure.
Clubs don’t win flags by playing nice.
Last year Greater Western Sydney moved on coach Leon Cameron only months after he won the club a final against Sydney, aware they needed to go from good to great.
Cameron is a faultless individual, was popular within the club, but the Giants knew they were underperforming given their talent given a game plan that didn’t resemble footy’s best sides.
But the Giants will always wonder if they should have won a premiership with the star-studded list that came so close through the 2016-2022 era.
St Kilda did something similar, sacking the honourable and high-achieving Brett Ratten with a touch of the ruthless Carlton of old.
They didn’t want to coast, they didn’t want to continue in their mediocrity.
So the Suns have sacked Dew in a decision that will make him a martyr of sorts.
He inherited a list he believed was $1 million over the salary cap — only to be quickly told it was double that figure.
Even this year he played a team that was often the fourth or fifth-youngest in football.
Yet for all Gold Coast’s messaging about not improving year on year, the Suns wouldn’t be sacking him for the next bright thing in Adem Yze, Daniel Giansiracusa or Hayden Skipworth.
They want to go from good to great.
So they will pay out Dew, the club having put a series of clauses into his contract last year that limit to him to a payout of around $300,000 and perhaps even less.
And they will get on with the process of securing Hardwick, while surely asking the question of senior coaches like Chris Scott and Ken Hinkley.
Hiring Hardwick isn’t a retention play for a young elite list — they all want to stay anyway.
Ben King will likely sign a two-year extension over summer past his 2024 deal to free agency on a deal of up to $1 million a season.
The rest of the stars are signed up long term.
But Hardwick at the Suns gives them the best chance to succeed on every level.
He brings a cutting-edge game plan that stands the test of time and perfectly complements a young elite list full of brilliant talent.
He turns the Suns into a destination club that does not have to overpay for the kind of crazy deals Gold Coast had to fork out for Jack Bowes, Brayden Fiorini, Alex Sexton and David Swallow.
He gives the club valuable exposure from sponsors and the perfect sugar hit for members at a club that averaged 11,298 at home attendances last year (in Darwin and on the Gold Coast) and 13,087 this year from eight games.
He stabilises a football club with many of the right pillars in place from its fitness staff to development program.
He takes away all the excuses that this is a young football club still in its infancy which can accept the kind of seven-goal losses this year that eventually sealed Dew’s fate.
And it provides Hardwick with an immediate challenge to stir his competitive instincts after what will turn out to be four months out of the AFL landscape.
Now the Suns need to land their man and stop the business of being a drain on the AFL’s coffers, transforming the club into a true AFL success.
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