AFL: Gold Coast breaks Metricon Stadium drought with come-from-behind win over Fremantle
The Suns finally shone on Metricon Stadium, ending a losing streak on their home ground that dates back to 2017 with a come-from-behind win over Fremantle sealed with a special goal from captain David Swallow.
Gold Coast
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The Suns finally shone on Metricon Stadium, ending a losing streak on their home ground that dates back to 2017 with a come-from-behind win over Fremantle.
After squandering chance after chance throughout the match, the Suns looked dead and buried late, but late goals to Jack Martin and captain David Swallow gave them an unlikely victory and kickstarted the celebrations on the Gold Coast.
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“I realised the state of the game and it was an important kick,” Swallow said.
“You try and block everything out and I kept to my routine. I actually thought it was about to miss and luckily it swung the other way.”
Swallow worked harder than anyone else to put himself in the position to win it for Gold Coast.
The 26-year-old battled through a knee injury in the Suns Round 1 loss to St Kilda and raced the clock to be fit to play against Fremantle.
He went on to record 30 disposals, 16 contested, nine clearances and the match-sealing goal.
Coach Stuart Dew wasn’t prepared to play him if there was a risk of further injury but also knew of the importance of having the man who influences the group more than any other available.
“Dave is a massive competitor,” Dew said.
“Even for the new people to the organisation, you don’t quite appreciate it until you see it day-to-day and how professional he was to be able to get the swelling out of his knee by looking after it right, recovering well and then preparing well.
“We set the bar really high for him but in the end it was a matter of how quickly he could get it right and the all clear on the scans was important. He is a ripper.”
On sheer weight of chances Gold Coast should have buried the Dockers by midway through the third quarter but a woeful night in front of goal allowed Fremantle to keep a slim buffer.
Gold Coast took a one-point lead into the first break in a slow starting game that took until the 16th minute to deliver its first goal.
Little separated the two teams from opposing sides of the country but despite the Suns managing nearly double the forward 50 entries, they couldn’t deliver clean ball and squandered many other chances.
Luckily for Gold Coast, Fremantle followed suit at the other end of the ground.
The lead changed six times in the first half, with the Suns extending the margin by a point going into the main break.
Alex Sexton had three goals by the end of the second term and could have had more, after hitting the post twice.
Fremantle dominated in Round 1 against North Melbourne on the back of its clearance work, but Gold Coast matched it at the source and applied the pressure the Kangaroos couldn’t.
Gold Coast kicked six straight behinds to open the third quarter and were made to pay when Fremantle booted two in a minute, before adding another soon after.
Dew said relief was the overriding emotion of the night.
“Individuals and teams have choices and I think our guys chose to compete,” Dew said.
“They kept running which was important, stuck to task and had composure.
“We are proud of the group, particularly after last week.
“A young group could potentially say not again and it’s another close one but I think for them we are all really happy we can sing the song. They fought their way through it.”
SCOREBOARD
GOLD COAST 2.4 4.8 4.16 7.19 (61)
d
FREMANTLE 2.3 4.5 7.7 8.10 (58)
GOALS
Gold Coast: Sexton 4, Martin, Miller, Swallow
Fremantle: McCarthy 2, Taberner 2, Colyer 2, Lobb, Walters
TOM BOSWELL’S BEST
Gold Coast: Jarrod Harbrow, Jack Martin, Jack Bowes, Alex Sexton, David Swallow
Fremantle: Brad Hill, Nat Fyfe, Matt Taberner, Ed Langdon, Sean Darcy
TOM BOSWELL’S VOTES
3 — Jarrod Harbrow
2 — Brad Hill
1 — Jack Martin
INJURIES
Gold Coast: Horlin-Smith (back) replaced in selected side by Joyce
Fremantle: Nil
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Ryan, O’Gorman, Brown
Official crowd: 10,119 at Metricon Stadium
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