New Suns chairman Bob East has pledged three things to the Gold Coast Suns. Here’s what they are

New Suns chairman Bob East has vowed to give three things to the Gold Coast Suns. Here’s his vision for 2023.

New Suns chairman Bob East at the Gold Coast Suns HQ at Carrara. Picture Glenn Hampson

Incoming Suns chairman Bob East has declared Gold Coast is on the cusp of an unprecedented level of success that will snap a decade-long drought of disappointment for fans.

East, who will officially take over the role from long-time chairman Tony Cochrane after this Saturday’s round 1 clash against Sydney, has set his sights on getting the Suns to play finals football and deliver sold out crowds at Heritage Bank Stadium.

Since their inaugural season in 2011, the Suns have only been able to crack the top 12 twice: once in 2014 and again in 2022.

His final bold mission is to dismantle the Brisbane Lions’ status as the number one club in Queensland.

“(In the early days of the club) the talk was around setting things up and how we initiate things,” East said.

“Now we’ve moved into the capitalisation stage. We need to make sure that everyone knows what we want to do - and that is to be successful in finals football.

“There’s no point shying away from that. We’re not here to make up the numbers.

“We’re not here just because it’s nice to have another side in Queensland.

“We want to be really successful and that means beating our neighbours up the road (the Brisbane Lions), and beating the best clubs down south.

“We can’t shy away from that. We’re here to win.”

New Suns chairman Bob East has said part of his vision is for the club to defeat the Brisbane Lions. Picture Glenn Hampson

East comes with decades of experience in the tourism, hospitality and property industries, notably establishing the Mantra Group with a core group of executives in 2006, and serving as chair of Tourism Australia, Tourism Events QLD and co-chairing the ASEAN business and tourism summit.

The last time the club came close to selling out all 27,500 seats in Carrara Stadium was in Round 16 of 2014, when the Suns attracted 24,032 fans.

But East said if they aren’t winning on the field, they wouldn’t win in the stands.

“We’ve got a 25,000 (sic) seat stadium and I can’t wait until we’re full,” East said.

“We’ve got to get a lot of things right to bring that about, but we’re on the road and that’s really my ambition.

“The core ingredients are there. We’ve built a platform, but this can be so much better.

“I don’t know if we’ll sell out this weekend but that would be an absolute goal for this year.

“We’re not going to achieve success through marketing, we’re going to achieve it through really hard work.”

East might not be as “outlandish” as Tony Cochrane, but he isn’t afraid to be “bold”. Picture Glenn Hampson

Replacing Cochrane won’t be an easy task.

But East said that wasn’t his goal anyway. Instead, he is embracing his own style of leadership and vision for the club.

“Tony has done a fantastic job, and is very passionate, with everything he’s done with the Gold Coast Suns,” East said.

“My focus will be around seeing if we can take this organisation to an era of success.

“The opportunity we have with the Gold Coast Suns is quite incredible, we’re more mature now as a club and we’re extremely focused on what we’re doing.

“My focus will be on raising the bar.”

Across his near seven-year stint at the helm of the club and nine years on the board, Cochrane gained national attention for his blunt and fiery comments, rivalries with fellow AFL bosses and visionary ideas.

From a first glance, East appears to enjoy letting the club’s success – rather than his own opinions – make headlines, but isn’t opposed to being “bold” when the time calls for it.

“I don’t want to try to compare my approach to anyone else’s,” he said.

“I’m a firm believer that if you get all the settings right in the business to make sure all the machinations of a business are running, you can then go on to do bold things.

“Whether that’s me standing up and saying something outlandish, it’s not so much that, it’s about doing things that will excite this community.

“We will be doing things that are brave, we will be doing things that are bold, sometimes I’m sure I’ll be front and centre and other times … I’m sure the community would like to hear from other people in the organisation.

“When I was running my businesses, I did have people in my organisation quite nervous about I was going to say.

“I don’t know if that’s to the same degree as Tony when he was going in front of the cameras but I certainly won’t be shy in my approach.”

“We want to be really successful and that means beating our neighbours up the road (the Brisbane Lions), and beating the best clubs down south,” says East. Picture Glenn Hampson

One issue Cochrane had been particularly vocal on was Tasmania’s injection into the AFL.

Cochrane began as a loud supporter against the addition of a 19th team, once calling it “insanity” before eventually praising the state government for “stepping up enormously”.

East’s opinion on the matter is measured.

“At a high level, expansion is a really important part of what the AFL have done,” he said.

“By example, Queensland now boasts the number one Auskick participation in the country. I think it’s fair to state that would not have happened without the Gold Coast Suns arriving on the scene.

“It would be exciting to see it happen but it has to be financially viable.

“It can absolutely be financially viable, but there are certain things that are required in terms of stadiums and financed. Providing those things are in place it did look compelling from my personal viewpoint.”