AFL 2023: Gold Coast Suns sack Stuart Dew as head coach after six seasons

Stuart Dew’s sacking brings down the curtain on another long run of mediocrity for the Suns but another appointment failure risks fuelling sentiment that the Suns are a problem too difficult to solve.

Just last week the Gold Coast Suns called a press conference to show support for its embattled coach Stuart Dew.

A week later they’ve shown him the door.

Suns CEO Mark Evans said in relation to Dew: “I’ve said time and time again Stuey is our coach, contracted for this year and next year (and) if he does a good job, he’ll be contracted into the future”. So much for that. It’s a brutal and sudden end for the coaching stint which has been littered with so much promise and yet could not deliver a finals run.

Stuart Dew has been axed as head coach. (Photo by Chris Hyde/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)

Dew came into the role six years ago vowing to finally get the Gold Coast AFL side into the winners circle and make the post-season.

In the club’s view, it had the right coach, the right players and a world-class sporting ground – all the right ingredients to deliver success for long-suffering fans.

Yet despite this, the Suns have never come close to even a sniff of September footy.

Even this year, when the club was talking up its finals hopes, the Suns failed to fire despite flashes of brilliance.

It’s a brutal end to Dew’s time at the Suns. (Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)

An unexpected and brilliant Round 12 win over the Crows doesn’t make up for back-to-back trouncing by Collingwood and Port. And in the end it cost Dew his job.

He joins Guy McKenna and Rodney Eade on the Suns scrap heap of coaches. Now the club’s attention has turned to finding a successor, with three-time premiership coach Damian Hardwick the odds-on favourite for the post. Having worked wonders with Richmond and turned the Tigers from a basket case into a premiership powerhouse, he’s exactly the kind of messiah fans and club bosses are looking for.

Sound familiar? The Gold Coast Titans just weeks ago sacked underperforming coach Justin Holbrook mid-season in favour of NRL premiership winner Des Hasler. Both clubs are desperate for success after some long runs of mediocrity in Australia’s elite football codes.

One thing is for certain, whoever the Suns pick for the role, they must make sure it is a coach they are willing to back long-term.

Otherwise another appointment failure risks the club further fuelling sentiment from AFL heartland that the Suns are a problem too difficult to solve.