Suns hold off Magpies’ miraculous comeback to secure six-point win

The Suns’ charge towards September has its biggest scalp in ladder-leading Collingwood. But it wasn’t without surviving the mightiest of comebacks from the Josh Daicos-inspired Pies.

Gold Coast have taken a step closer to a maiden AFL finals berth with a six point win over Collingwood but lost inspirational leader Touk Miller to injury in the process.

Eleven years after Collingwood cost Gold Coast a spot in the finals the Suns have used the 10.9 (69) to 8.15 (63) win over the Magpies to signal to the league they are finally ready for a top eight finish.

The Suns stunned Collingwood in front of a near sell out 22,831 crowd at People First Stadium on Friday night in one of the biggest wins in Gold Coast’s history.

It came at a cost with former captain Miller suffering a hamstring injury in the second quarter.

“Touk was on fire too early so that was a significant loss for us,” Suns coach Damien Hardwick said.

“We don’t know how bad it is. He will obviously have scans in the next couple of days but hamstring.

“What level we are not too sure. He has had a wonderful year so hopefully it is on the short term of the spectrum.”

The club’s 100th AFL win came over a decade after a win over the Magpies in round 16 of 2024 sparked a late-season collapse, ended their run to what would have been an inaugural finals appearance, cost then coach Guy McKenna his job and led to one of multiple rebuilds.

Gold Coast took the points against the Magpies on that day but Gary Ablett’s shoulder injury in the infamous Carrara clash was followed by just one more win in the final seven games.

The Suns are now fifth on the ladder with an 11-5 win-loss record, needing around three more wins from the final seven games to cement a finals spot.

Gold Coast held a 35-point lead at halftime after keeping Collingwood goalless while restricting the Magpies ball movement. It was the first time since 2014 that Gold Coast had kicked the first six goals of a game.

The Magpies kicked eight goals to two in the second half to completely flip the game on its head, taking the lead with just over 11 minutes remaining in the final term before Gold Coast steadied and snuck home.

Hardwick said the Suns went into their shells in the second half and paid the price for their unwillingness to take the game on.

“We had an incredible first half and they had an incredible second half and at the end of the day it was a flip of the coin as to who won and we were fortunate to come out on top,” Hardwick said.

“They are a great side, the way they go about it. I thought we went into our shells a bit. We didn’t offensively challenge them at all. We will get some learnings out of it as well.”

Collingwood coach Craig McRae said inaccurate shots for goal put pressure on the side while conceding the Magpies midfield were outclassed.

“Their intensity around the ball was way better than ours,” McRae said.

“I just didn’t love our mids at times, I didn’t think we worked hard enough to contest, didn’t get our hands dirty enough.

“They were dominant around the contest and clearance in that first half.”

INJURY CONCERNS

Gold Coast coaching staff will be sweating on the severity of Touk Miller’s hamstring injury.

Miller has long been the heart and soul of the Suns and his work rate and elite performances have made him one of the club’s most influential players in recent years.

The 29-year-old was subbed off midway through the second quarter and with games against Adelaide and then Brisbane coming up the Suns will feel the effects of Miller’s absence.

Collingwood have its own injury troubles with Jeremy Howe subbed out of the game in the second quarter with a groin injury.

Nick Daicos hurts his ankle against the Suns

UMPIRE CONTACT SCRUTINISED

Scrutiny is expected to continue around Matt Rowell’s movement around umpires on the back of an incident in the second quarter.

Rowell and Nick Daicos were caught up in a wrestle before the latter looked to brush the back of the umpire when the duo separated.

Suns coach Damien Hardwick has been staunch in his defence of Rowell, declaring the AFL needed to move to throwing the ball up instead of bouncing it in order to improve the safety for both officials and players.

SCOREBOARD

GOLD COAST – 2.5 6.7 8.9 10.9 (69)

COLLINGWOOD – 0.4 0.8 3.11 8.15 (63)

Goals:

Gold Coast – King 2, Rowell 2, Humphrey, Rioli, Read, Long, Anderson, Clohesy

Collingwood – Membrey 2, Elliott 3, J Daicos 2, Schultz

Best:

Gold Coast – Anderson, Rowell, Noble, Rioli, Uwland

Collingwood – J Daicos, N Daicos, Cox, Elliott, Membrey

Boswell’s best

3 - Rowell

2 – Anderson

1 – J Daicos

Injuries:

Gold Coast – T. Miller (hamstring)

Collingwood – J. Howe (groin)

Crowd: 22,831 at People First Stadium

Originally published as Suns hold off Magpies’ miraculous comeback to secure six-point win