Gold Coast Suns AFL 2025: How Damien Hardwick’s side has been transformed in six months

Time to believe Gold Coast fans? These are the stats — and insights — which show Damien Hardwick’s side is ready to make finals history.

Gold Coast’s investment in Damien Hardwick is beginning to bear fruit with the Suns now charting a course not just for a maiden finals berth, but potentially even top four.

In a single off-season the Suns have completely transformed their offensive and defensive profiles from below-average to among the AFL’s elite.

And with the second-easiest draw of any team in the competition still to come, the AFL’s perennial underperformers have laid an enviable platform to attack September.

While the club publicly put finals on the agenda last season, privately it knew making the leap in the first year under Hardwick was going to be a challenge.

Damien Hardwick’s impact on the Suns is becoming clear.

The triple-premiership coach’s system was never going to be an overnight installation but now, with a full campaign and two pre-seasons under his belt, the pieces are falling into place for the No. 4-ranked Suns.

Last Saturday’s gritty 10-point win over the Western Bulldogs was a perfect example of their off-season evolution; staving off a late fightback when it looked like they would be overrun.

“Last year we were probably still adapting to the game plan and understanding what was required. This year we have a better handle on what that looks like,” vice-captain Touk Miller said this week.

“All pre-season we trained a lot of scenario stuff. We trained that exact scenario quite a few times.

“The Adelaide game for instance (in round four), we could easily have lost that but we didn’t. The game on the weekend, same thing, we did a lot of things right and probably deserved to win in the end.”

Scores from clearance and from turnover are two of the most important offensive metrics in modern footy and the Suns have risen from 15th and 10th respectively in 2024 to third and first this season.

Daniel Rioli soaks up a win in Darwin with the local fans.

The starting midfield is among the best in the competition but the inclusion of Bailey Humphrey and Will Graham into the rotation – and the on-ball return of Sam Flanders, who spent much of 2024 in defence – has given Gold Coast multiple modes with which to challenge opposition.

Many in the football world raised an eyebrow last year when they traded away a glut of first round draft picks to bring in Daniel Rioli and John Noble. But those trades have already been vindicated with the pair completely transforming their ball movement.

All of that has combined to eradicate arguably the biggest flaw of the Suns’ 2024 season – their inability to convert inside 50s into scores. They are now the fifth-ranked side in scores per inside 50, after finishing a lowly 17th in that metric last year.

Gold Coast’s team defence has also drastically improved.

Last year the Suns ranked 14th for points against from turnover and 15th for defensive 50 to inside 50 against – that is, the ability for the opposition to transition from defence to attack. This year they rank fifth and sixth respectively.

So not only are they now scoring more often when going inside 50, but when the opposition is able to exit, the Suns are harder to score against going the other way.

It is a complete overhaul of the key performance indicators that let them down last year.

“Dimma coaches us really hard on understanding your role and what is required for the team – and if you execute that, more often than not you’re going to win,” Miller said.

Hardwick’s work is bearing fruit this year.

Miller will celebrate his 200th game milestone on Thursday night when the Suns host Hawthorn at TIO Stadium in Darwin to kick off Sir Doug Nicholls Round.

The midfielder famously used his 2021 Club Champion acceptance speech to pledge his loyalty to the Suns and express his desire to see the club succeed.

With finals football now a very real possibility for the first time in his career, the 29-year-old said it was important to continue building on the foundations the club had laid in recent years to get to this point.

“Yes, we want to play finals. That is the destination at the end of the year. But the reality is we have to win games that are in front of us now,” he said.

“Build an identity — not just about this year, but about many years to come. We have to form an identity as a club and make sure we push for respect for ourselves and earn the right to be a strong, powerful club going forward.”

Originally published as Gold Coast Suns AFL 2025: How Damien Hardwick’s side has been transformed in six months