Gold Coast Suns midseason draftee Oskar Faulkhead reveals the drives that landed him on AFL radar
For every training session, he would embark on a four and a half hour journey with his parents. Now those sacrifices have landed this rising star on the Gold Coast.
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Everything had been building to this moment for Oskar Faulkhead.
Session upon session spent in the gym preparing for his shot at the AFL paled in comparison to the four-and-a-half hours he would spend in the car simply to head to training.
Now the 19-year-old stands as the newest Gold Coast Sun, however he is not content with simply making the cut.
Faulkhead was announced this week as the Suns mid-season rookie draftee scalp, sending his family in Victoria into hysterics when he was revealed as pick number seven.
It were his parents who the talented prospect paid the most credit to for getting him to this point.
They were the ones who braved the long trips from Bendigo to get to each game and training session, listening through his podcasts as he contemplated how he would go about his efforts.
This moment, Faulkhead said, was as much about them as it was him.
“My parents have put in the hours for me, then to games most weekend’s it was probably six and a bit (hours) to get there,” Faulkhead said.
“I think it’s just the love of the game and every bit of it, the teammates and everything. My parents have that belief in me I could do it, and showing them I got drafted proves I can.
“They were over the moon as well, there was a big party, everyone came over and they celebrated. It’s very surreal, when my name got read out it was life changing and loved every minute of it.”
Faulkhead is expected to arrive on the Gold Coast from Victoria next Friday, where he will meet the squad at a captain’s run.
However there is a chance he will line up for the club’s VFL side already in their forthcoming clash against Collingwood this weekend.
As for where he figures in the Suns squad long term, the teenager admits while he has his ideas his versatility may lead to other plans.
Faulkhead sees himself fitting a similar mould to the role assumed by Izak Rankine; a midfield man capable of plying his trade across the ground.
Having impressed for the Bendigo Pioneers in the NAB League, making enough of an impact to earn a scholarship at Geelong Grammar, he said he would not be at ease simply making his first AFL squad.
His eyes are firmly set on a debut for the year is out.
“An AFL game before the season ends would definitely be a goal of mine. To take into the pre-season an AFL game under my belt would be really handy,” Fauklhead said.
“I’ll keep pushing for that and hopefully I can play some good VFL footy.
“I definitely like that mid role, I worked on getting in the gym this pre-season, putting a bit of weight on and being threat at inside middle. That paid off this year.
“My game is very versatile, they can build me into that half-forward, win, even halfback. “Over the years I’ve played every position at a high level, so I think that versatility is a big part of my footy.”
Mental black hole: Young star consumed by footy
SUNS defender Wil Powell has revealed he became so consumed with negative thoughts surrounding his performances he went on to the field believing everything would go wrong.
The usually energetic Gold Coast defender has opened up about spiralling into a mental black hole early in the season and the work he has done to get himself back in the right headspace ahead of the club’s Round 9 clash with Fremantle on Sunday at Metricon Stadium.
The 22-year-old said he was disappointed in his first few weeks of the 2022 AFL season, struggling to find the consistency he boasted in 2021, and conceded it quickly consumed him.
“I would be disappointed in my performance then trying to find why was this and why was that,” Powell said.
“I was letting that consume me. I’m usually pretty good at letting it go but I put too much pressure on myself. I remember being at the club and I got beaten one-on-one too many times so I was doing more weights thinking it would change within a week and then I’d get down when it didn’t.
“I’d be doing vision and then reminding myself of the negative things instead of the positives.”
Powell said his work with Suns sports psychologist Tristan Coulter, defensive coach Josh Drummond and his family helped him break the cycle he found himself in and unearthed tools he still uses now to stay in the right headspace. Some of those areas simple as walking his kelpie, Barney, more.
“I have found that happy balance between football and outside life,” Powell said.
“I have been able to play more consistently because of it. I started to walk my dog, more often, went to the beach more and got off my phone. It took me two or three weeks to make the shift.
“I’m learning how to have two buckets and to put all thepositive things in one and the negative things in the other.
“Hopefully the positive outweighs the negative. I do a lot of visualisation now and mediation. “I lie on my bed, put on some light music, close my eyes and visualise how I want the week to go or how I’m going to play and then it manifests.”
Toll nearly four years in wilderness took on AFL survivor
BOBBIE Thompson wasn’t even born the last time her father Rory Thompson played an AFL game but now the girl who played such a critical role in his miraculous return to footy will get the chance to see him grace the fields at the top level.
The now-two-year-old was born just after the Suns defender suffered his second ACL injury in 2020 and when the world seemed its bleakest, Bobbie was there to put it all into perspective.
“Bobbie helped a lot. She kept me busy and took my mind off footy when I was home,” Thompson said as he prepares to play his first AFL game in nearly four years when the Gold Coast Suns play Sydney at the SCG on Saturday.
Bobbie won’t be at the game but she will be watching intently on the television back home on the Gold Coast.
“We were in Covid lockdown when my partner Carina and I had her as well. I was stuck at home after surgery and not able to do anything so we got to spend some quality time with her over the last couple of years which has been great.
“When you finish a hard day or have a rough time in rehab, to go home and see your partner and daughter and go for a swim at the creek or something helped so much.”
Thompson has been forced to become one of the most resilient players in football after suffering two ACL injuries and going through multiple setbacks in recent years.
In the 31-year-old’s mind the injury took away the elements that make him who he is, the things that form his identity.
“The thing I found hard is not being able to do the things that almost make you who you are,” he said.
“I am someone who likes to get outdoors. I love my football and training but when I am away from the club I love to go fishing, surfing or do something active out in nature.
“That helps me a lot mentally as well. Having years of not really being able to do those things, as well as your job and your passion, it can really add up.
“You don’t have that outlet. ACL rehab is very monotonous at times. It is the same thing every day with no variation really.
“You would be grinding in the gym and looking out the window and seeing your teammates out training together while you are alone and ticking boxes. Those days can be hard.
“You would be working really hard, building yourself up physically and mentally and then when you think you are close something happens out of your control and you start from scratch again. That was shattering.
“With ACL’s you make one step the wrong way and all of a sudden you are doing rehab for two years. It can be very frustrating that such a little incident can put you back so far.
“I have been so lucky to have a good support team both at the club and at home.”
The foundation Sun, who has 103 AFL games to his name, conceded doubts crept into his mind about his ability to make a comeback past the age of 30 but is now feeling as good as ever.
He even recorded a personal best of 6 minutes and 48 seconds in the 2km time trial throughout the summer.
“I went through stages of watching everyone else run around and there are so many great young players at the club,” Thompson said.
“At one stage I hadn’t run in like nine months and I was inside while looking at them move and thinking ‘geez, can I keep up with that’.
“Once I got out there and started moving around and doing training a bit more the confidence came with it. Some of the work we did was even more rigorous than what we would face in AFL games so I gained a lot of confidence from that.”
Today’s game will also mark the first time Thompson and fellow tall defender Sam Collins, who has played 54 games for the Suns since arriving at the end of 2018, play alongside each other at the highest level.
Dew date: When Suns will make decision on coaching future
STUART Dew will be given until the end of the season to show Suns powerbrokers he can deliver the final piece of the puzzle that will earn him a new deal.
Gold Coast hold 14th on the ladder with two wins and five losses from the opening seven rounds of what is Dew’s fifth year at the helm of the Suns and the final season of his current contract.
Suns insiders have revealed Dew still holds enormous favour from the highest level of the club as he enters an intriguing period of the season.
Gold Coast’s upcoming fixtures include games against top eight teams Sydney and Fremantle where losses would see the club slip to 2-7 and leave the Suns struggling to keep their dream of playing finals alive.
In the eyes of Suns hierarchy Dew has just about every box ticked despite the club’s current position.
Those inside the four walls are happy with the game style he has formulated while the players, their partners and parents have voiced their happiness of Dew when asked for feedback by officials.
It has enabled Gold Coast to shake off the retention issues that has plagued the club throughout its history, re-signing key players including Ben King and Ben Ainsworth in recent times.
There is a belief the playing group isn’t far away from clicking and that once the team improves its efficiency going inside their forward 50m it will turn the tide on results.
The sticking point for Dew is the club’s inability to stop rivals getting a run of goals throughout stages of some games, most recently against Collingwood at the weekend where the Pies booted seven straight majors in the first quarter to set upthe 25-point win at the MCG.
Decision makers want to see the team be able to shut down huge momentum swings more consistently and if the defence continuesto leak then concerns will be raised.
But the role is still Dew’s to keep, with club bosses agreeing they will give him the entirety of the season before making a call on his future in order to give him every chance to build momentum.
The club will revisit that tact should Dew and the team put together a stunning back-half of the year and deliver a run ofwins.
The strategy could hurt the club should they decide to look for a new coach at the end of the season given the likes of Alastair Clarkson could be off the market by then.
But insiders insist not a single name has been uttered outside of Dew at high level meetings as they still believe they have their man.
No.5 draft pick re-signs with Suns
GOLD Coast’s No.5 draft pick Mac Andrew says he believes in the bright future of the Suns after signing a new two-year extension before even playing a senior AFL game.
The Sudanese swingman has committed to the Suns until 2025, determined to honour the legacy of his culture in the same manner as Aliir Aliir and teammate Mabior Chol.
A player whose parents fled war-torn South Sudan for Egypt and then Australia is a stunning athletic beast who was always going to take some time in the VFL to find his feet.
But after strong performances as a marking defender a debut isn’t far away for the former Dandenong Stingray.
And the Suns have locked in another key part of their future after signing up Ben King, with talks on Jack Lukosius and Izak Rankine heading in the right direction.
Andrew was linked to Melbourne as an NGA star but after roaring up the draft charts the Demons lost his rights when he became a top-20 pick, yet he is more than at home on the Gold Coast.
“The contract was all finalised in the last week or so, so I am really happy and settling in well with a really good group of boys, so I didn’t think twice,” he said.
“The majority of my family is in Melbourne, if not all of them, so I came up here excited but I didn’t know what to expect.
“But there are a lot of younger boys and I have a good group of friends. It’s a change of scenery being really hot all the time but I am starting to adapt. The pre-season was tough trying to put on weight and sweating it off on the track but it’s been great journey.’’
Already the 2021 national draft looks special with Jason Horne-Francis (No.1), Nick Daicos (pick 4) and Josh Rachele making blinding early starts but Andrew will quickly make up for lost time.
In his four VFL games he has already taken on AFL regulars like Sydney’s Sam Reid and Callum Sinclair and is averaging 16 possessions and five marks with plenty of enticing cameos.
For a player who estimates he has played less than 20 AFL games since the start of Covid it is great just to get back intothe rhythm of football once more.
“It’s been going up against AFL-listed players. They are fast-paced games and I am playing on that third tall and trying to play to my strengths with intercepting and getting up the ground more,” he said.
“I arrived at 79kg and am 81 or 82kg right now so it’s trying to have enough strength to hold my own but not lose traits like my athleticism and agility.
“The feedback is to play some consistent footy before I get my chance. I am being real patient until that opportunity comes. It’s been real good seeing mates I played with and formed a great connection with go on and play AFL footy. Guys like Connor MacDonald who is a close mate of mine and even guys like Rachele who I played with.”
Indigenous programs coordinator Jarrod Harbrow has taken Andrew under his wing as he builds a connection with ex-Richmond player Chol and the club’s Aboriginal players.
“You do look up to the (Sudanese) boys and to think I will potentially be on the field with them one day, it gives me a great feeling to grow the game within the Sudanese community.
“Long story short, my parents had my brother in South Sudan and then fled to Egypt where they had me and my and another brother and they were there for three years then came here.
“We have been here for the majority of our lives so it’s been a real journey my family went on.
“I couldn’t be more grateful. To go out every day to represent my culture and where it came from, it’s just a huge honour.”
New AFL boss? Potential candidate’s stance on role
THE AFL will have a challenge on its hands if it wants to prise Suns boss Mark Evans from Gold Coast and bring him back to league headquarters.
League hierarchy are hunting a replacement for Gillon McLachlan who will step down as the AFL’s CEO at the end of the year.
Evans has been among the highly credentialed footy figures touted as a potential candidate for the role, along with the likes of Richmond CEO Brendan Gale, current AFL head of finance, clubs and broadcasting Travis Auld, AFL executive general manager of customer and commercial Kylie Rogers, AFL legal chief Andrew Dillon and Western Bulldogs president Kylie Watson-Wheeler.
But the AFL may need to look outside of Gold Coast to find its next CEO, with Evans seemingly entrenched at the Suns.
It’s understood Evans is firmly invested in his role at Gold Coast and while he hasn’t ruled anything out, he isn’t actively looking to leave.
The news will provide Suns staffers and fans with some comfort given the potential huge disruption his exit could have ina year where the club is chasing its first finals berth while Gold Coast bosses decide the future of out-of-contract coach Stuart Dew.
Evans arrived at the Suns at the start of 2017 and oversaw the club’s transition from former coach Rodney Eade to Dew, who took control of the team from 2018.
He led the Suns through the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games interruptions, revamped the football department.
Evans brought in Jon Haines as football manager before most recently putting Wayne Campbell in the role following the former’s departure at the end of 2021, and has implemented changes to the club’s Academy structures.
Prior to arriving at the Suns Evans spent 2013 to 2017 as the AFL’s general manager of football operations and before that he held the same role at Hawthorn.
Whips and word quotas: Inside the mind of Suns forward
SUNS forward Josh Corbett says he has discovered the formula that will enable him to keep improving as he strives to become a staple of Gold Coast’s senior side.
Corbett booted two goals in Gold Coast’s win over Carlton on Sunday at Metricon Stadium, providing a strong marking presence in the forward line after getting called up from the reserves.
Since arriving at Gold Coast as a rookie ahead of the 2019 season Corbett has unable to string together more than seven consecutive AFL games.
One of the most popular figures on the Suns list, Corbett has impressed in nearly every AFL appearance but struggled to get the nod of the coaches over some of his teammates.
Speaking on News Corp’s ‘The Heat Room’ podcast, Corbett revealed what it had been like battling for consistency at the top level.
“It can sometimes be frustrating,” he said between discussing beef brisket, buying whips and being held to a daily word quota by teammates due to his love of a chat.
“All you want to do at the end of the day is go and play football. The best thing I have learnt over the journey is controlling what you can control.
“Unfortunately 90 per cent of it you can’t control. I can control my mindset, my attitude and how much work I put into the game but people get injured, you get sick and when it comes to selection someone in the twos might kick a heap of goals and push me out.
“A lot of it is uncontrollable. A lot of the time it can stress me out a bit if I put energy into things I can’t influence.
“As long as I am fit and healthy and doing everything I know then I am happy. I hold a high standard with my training and my effort and work rate around the club.”
The latest Heat Room episode will drop at 3pm on Wednesday and is available on all major podcast platforms.
Suns learn extent of forward’s injury
THE Gold Coast Suns forward stocks have been reduced further with Jack Lukosius to miss the club’s clash with St Kilda on Thursday due to a knee injury.
Scans have confirmed Lukosius suffered a PCL strain and some bond bruising in the Sun 30-point win over Carlton on Sunday, ruling the 21-year-old out for at least a week.
Suns football staff hold out hope he will be available for the club’s Round 6 Qclash with Brisbane.
Gold Coast are already without key forward Ben King and have been giving Lukosius time to develop his skills in front of goal.
The Suns will lean heavily on tall forwards Mabior Chol and Levi Casboult who have provided strong marking targets so far this season.
Lukosius spent some time back on the wing against the Blues as the club tried to improve its connection between the midfield and forward lines.
Charlie Constable could also be unavailable this week after suffering a concussion in the club’s VFL game against Carlton while forward Joel Jeffrey suffered an ankle injury in the same game.
’Disgusting’: Suns take aim at racist trolls
SUNS defender Sean Lemmens has labelled a second racist attack levelled at teammate Mabior Chol as disgusting as the club wraps its arms around the key forward.
Chol and the Suns were forced to call out the racist remarks on social media that followed Gold Coast’s win over Carlton on Sunday where he booted three goals.
“It’s disgusting, really,” Lemmens said.
“It’s not the first time it has happened (to him). As a footy club we stand in front of him. We don’t expect him to take the full brunt of that.
“They are pretty crap comments to be honest. It’s ridiculous that (racist remarks) are still happening.
“We will continue to support him. We will throw an arm around him. We don’t stand for that as a footy club.”
Lemmens said the mental damage inflicted on players who are the victim of racism is huge.
“He has obviously copped it before and for him to not feel comfortable and to have that mental affect on him afterwards isn’t great.
“He is a softly spoken person, one of the best. It hurts him, clearly it hurts him, but he is now with his mates and the rest of the coaching staff and he knows we support him 100 per cent and he needs to keep putting that foot forward.”
Backing Budders in: Why another Sun re-signed
CONNOR Budarick has taken his biggest steps towards achieving his goal of ensuring he is part of Gold Coast’s long-term future by inking a three-year contract extension with the Suns.
Fresh upon his return from an ACL tear which ended his 2021 campaign in Round 3, the 20-year-old has extended his stay at Gold Coast until the end of 2025.
Having lived on the Glitter Strip since he was nine, Budarick said it had always been part of his vision to be a factor in the Suns’ plans for the long haul.
Flush with relief that, even sitting in the casualty ward, the club was eager to retain him, now he is determined to help deliver on his promise to cement the club as a regular finals force.
“I’m a loyal person and growing up supporting the Gold Coast and being a part of the Academy from being a teenager is really special,” Budarick said.
“I’ve always seen myself as wanting to be part of the club’s long-term future, and obviously to get another three years is a step closer to being a part of that long-term vision everyone at the club has at the moment.
“It feels really good, it’s obviously very exciting coming off an ACL injury knowing the club has the trust and confidence in me to be able to be a part of the club for another three years.
“It gives me a lot of confidence knowing they back me inand I can hopefully bring something to the club in terms of success.”
With the likes of Matt Rowell and Matt Conroy also sidelined for much of the year, Budarick sought to use his rehabilitationperiod as a challenge.
Not just for himself to bounce back but to ensure his teammates did the same.
The 17-game rookie has at last made his return to the field through the Suns’ VFL side, his comeback game aligning with Conroy’sin a moment he said the pair “embraced right before the bounce”.
Budarick said he has no fears over the injury which plagued him, declaring both his knees were as strong as each other.
Having overcome that adversity so early in his career, he said now he had full confidence he could begin to work towards lockingin his place in the Gold Coast defensive line.
“It was hard being immobilised for a certain amount of time … but I think I quickly got over the initial part of knowing thatI’d injured myself and was not going to be able to play footy,” Budarick said.
“It was an opportunity for me to get to work. We had such a tight group of six of us who had long term injuries at the timeso we were all around the same time for return to play and were ticking off the same milestones
“It got challenging and competitive at times, but it was really good. We had plenty of challenges most weeks and every month,just to try and push each other to get better.
“I’ve got full confidence in my body and there’s no looking back. My knee is just as strong as the other, I can go out playinggames knowing that I can just be myself and not have anything to worry about.”
Community footy to the AFL: Remarkable leap in the works
MEET the 19-year-old who could go from playing community footy on the Gold Coast to the AFL in the span of a season.
The QFA Division 2 South competition isn’t your traditional breeding ground for young stars hoping to find their way on to an AFL list. It’s actually quite the opposite.
It is usually the home of former AFL stars wanting to still enjoy having a kick around after retiring from the top level and the place where players spend their weekends bonding over the Sherrin between work and family life.
Not for Morgan Ferres. He may be a teenager but Ferres has already had one of the most unique journeys that football can offer.
The Adelaide product was overlooked at last year’s draft, offered a scholarship to study commerce and law at Gold Coast’s Bond University, declined it to trial to a supplementary list selection for the Suns before returning to the books when he fell short.
But there was one more twist.
“I was disappointed not to get the spot on the Suns list (that went to James Tsitas) but they kept in contact,” Ferres said from his on-campus accommodation at Bond University.
“They firstly offered me a spot in the academy to keep training at a high level but then I kept in contact with (Suns VFL coach) Jackson Kornberg who was eager for me to play in the club’s VFL team.
“A few weeks ago we put pen to paper and made it official.”
AFL clubs have been given the power to sign players purely for the VFL who sit outside of its senior list and academy.
Gold Coast has 48 players on its entire list and with 22 needed to fill the AFL and VFL, plus a substitute and often emergencies for away games, there is little wiggle room should clubs be impacted by injuries, illness and Covid.
The Covid top up list, that Ferres is also on, is separate to the VFL list.
While it is unlikely Ferres will miss many VFL games for the Suns, his scholarship with Bond means he will represent the university’s QFA Division 2 South, a competition stacked with Gold Coast and Northern NSW Rivers clubs, when available.
He hasn’t been named to play for the Suns against Sydney on Saturday and will represent Bond University in its Round 1 QFA Division 2 South clash against Robina.
“I played for Bond in a preseason game a couple of weeks ago and for the Suns VFL team (against the Northern Bullants) last weekend. They are two very different types of games but both really enjoyable,” he said.
Ferres booted 3.1 against the Bullants in the Suns 55-point win, but he didn’t do it while playing in the key forward role that earned him a scholarship to South Australian school St Peter’s, Sturt’s elite SANFL program, underage national championships and got him a trial with the Suns where he learnt alongside goal kicker Josh Corbett.
The 192cm talent, who weighs 85kg, did it while playing in the midfield for the first time since he was about 12-years-old.
“It has opened my eyes to a new position and hopefully I can continue to pay in the midfield,” Ferres said.
“You have the ability to push forward and back. As a key forward you have a dominant defender on you the whole time trying to stop you from getting the ball. As a midfielder you both try and get the ball and you can push forward and back without having someone stopping you.
“I got a free run at the footy. It was an unreal experience playing for the Suns for the first time.
“The boys in the midfield helped me through it. I am still playing at the highest level I can and hopefully I can chip away, build my game and get drafted sooner or later.”
MAN IN THE MIRROR INSPIRES FIORINI’S AFL RENAISSANCE
THE renaissance of Brayden Fiorini’s footy career began by looking in the mirror.
Overlooked at the selection table and hindered by major and minor injuries throughout his seven years at the Suns, Fiorini has been forced to battle feverishly throughout his career.
The constant knock backs would have been too much for some to handle and few would be surprised it didn’t leave the 24-year-old demoralised, without confidence and looking at his toe laces.
But not Fiorini who has been as composed off the field as he is with Sherrin in hand.
“It’s obviously been a hard process over the past 12 to 24 months but it has just been about controlling what I can control,” Fiorini said after putting two strong performances together in the opening two rounds of the season for Gold Coast.
“It was about looking at myself in the mirror and seeing what I can work on, trying to improve regardless of where I was playing, in the VFL or at training.
“It was about not getting fed up with selections, it’s obviously frustrating but I kept that to myself and didn’t let it spread to the group. I try to get better every day.
“I had a few setbacks early in my career with injuries so throughout my whole career I have had this mindset of just controlling what I can and riding the ups and downs of footy.
“I want to be playing AFL and I was struggling to find my way back in (to the side). Now I am in I am not content, either. I am hungrier than ever and want to keep improving to help the team.”
Those early setbacks included a serious knee injury that kept him to two games in his first season while he was squeezed out of a midfield with growing depth from 2020.
The club experimented by shifting him to halfback but it was unsuccessful. The injury to defender Connor Budarick opened the door for Fiorini, with midfielder David Swallow sent to the backline as over in a move that left a hole for him to fill.
He was part of a midfield group that took it up to reigning premiers Melbourne Demons on Saturday at Metricon Stadium before falling by 13 points.
“I just love being back out there in that midfield group,” Fiorini said.
“I feel we have a really good group there and a lot of trust between ourselves. We are just playing to our strengths and complimenting each other.”
Fiorini said it was one that got away, speaking passionately about his pride for the team while adamant they can no longer accept close defeats, no matter how close and no matter the quality of the opposition.
He said the connection between the midfielders and forwards was an issue that needed to be fixed, with the Demons punishing Gold Coast for not taking their chances going inside 50m by catching the Suns out rebounding from the backline.
Former US president Obama shaping Suns 2022 campaign
SUNS chairman Tony Cochrane has channelled former US president Barack Obama while delivering a message of hope for the club for the 2022 AFL season.
Speaking at Gold Coast’s official 2022 AFL season launch on Friday at The Star, Cochrane said the collective hope of everyone at the club would underpin their bid to reach finals for the first time in its history this season.
“One of the people I most admire on the planet is Barack Obama. He is articulate to a fault, calm, collected, he is balanced and a superb speech writer,” Cochrane said.
“I refer to his keynote address in 2004 at the democratic national convention. It brings into focus an important topic for all of us at the club.
“He said ‘hope in the face of difficulty, hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope, in the end that is God’s greatest gift to us. A belief in things not seen. A belief there are better days ahead’.
“What a great word hope is. No one can take it away from us. Like a small candle it can burn bright in our subconscious. It can illuminate a path for us, even when we don’t think there is one.
“Our coach Stuart Dew has massive hope that this is his team’s breakout year. A bunch of players, too numerous to pick out, believe this is their year, their collective year of hope. Our medical staff hope they get to deal with a predominantly health list, week in and week out.
“We all live in the hope that this is our year, that our talent and hard work for 23 weeks takes us into our first ever finals campaign at the Gold Coast Football Club. Our job, no matter what gets in our path, is to keep the flame of hope alive for the 2022 season.”
In his fifth year at the helm of the club Dew said he went into the season believing the side can beat any team at any location on the back of a game style underpinned by straighter ball movement, enhanced speed across the ground and a thirst to take risks.
“For the first time in my time at the Suns, and this is my fifth year, I certainly feel like we can go into a game and beat any opposition on our day if we play to our strengths,” he said.
“I feel we can put the foot down.”
As part of the season launch co-captains Touk Miller and Jarrod Witts presented a Sherrin signed by the team to the part-owner of club sponsor Knotwood, Michael Saba, who won an auction for the ball with a $15000 bid. The proceeds will go to helping victims of the recent floods in the Northern NSW Rivers.
EARLIER:
Lach-ed in battle with the brain
SUNS halfback Lachie Weller says he was left rattled by the concussion issues that ended his 2021 season prematurely and left him struggling with prolonged fatigue and blurred vision.
The 26-year-old has opened up for the first time about his multiple head knocks and the journey back to health and the footy form that has made him one of Gold Coast’s most important players.
Weller played the first 13 games of the Suns 2021 season before a hamstring injury sidelined him for two weeks.
He made his way back through the reserves ready to get his season on track before it was derailed completely by a head knock while playing against GWS in Round 13 of the VFL in Melbourne, a game that coincided with the club’s Round 17 fixture against the Giants.
“I actually got a free kick and got up and took it,” Weller said of the incident.
“It wasn’t until I came in just before quarter time and one of the coaches just asked me generally about the quarter and what was going on that we realised something wasn’t right.
“I couldn’t remember the quarter. They thought it was a heavy hit at first because I took the kick but once I came in I could have basically fallen asleep I was that tired.”
It was the second concussion Weller suffered that year, with the first coming in the pre-season when Matt Rowell accidentally put his knee into the back of his head. Weller needed 12 stitches and although he also felt fine initially, it took him a while to recover.”
Weller returned home from Melbourne after suffering the concussion in the VFL and continued to feel its affects in the weeks that followed.
“I was mainly tired. You forget things and I was just off,” he said.
“Even driving into the club, I would get really tired on the second half of the drive because I was concentrating on the road.
“It would then get worse once I got my heart rate up. I’d try and train and then I’d get dizziness and blurred vision. I couldn’t train for two weeks, probably longer.
“It rattled me for a bit, particularly because it was the second one I had in a short period of time.”
Weller said it got to a stage where he had missed so much training that despite feeling fine again with two games to go the coaching group decided it was best to put him on ice for the rest of the season.
With his season ending early Weller got to work finding physical gains away from the club in order to ensure he returned in 2022 at the peak of his powers.
He linked up with elite running coach and athlete Jackson Elliott to build on his speed and endurance before clocking a personal best 6 minutes and 5 seconds in the club’s 2km time trial.
“Previously in my career I have relied a lot on my talent,” Weller said.
“You can get to 100 games off raw talent and it is what you do next to get your next 100 games because there is always a new crew coming through. I have felt that. I had to go back to the drawing board.”
As part of his resurgence Weller, who has 116 AFL games to his name, shifted back into defence after spending part of 2020 and 2021 adding some speed on the outside of Gold Coast’s midfield group.
“That (move back to defence) was driven by (development coach Rhys Shaw),” Weller said.
“He has been a big mentor for me. I’m loving it down there. We had Bowesy (Jack Bowes) and Luko (Jack Lukosius) down there as our main ball users and they have had a change this year so my role down there is to defend but also bring in my offensive ability.”
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