Opinion: Why the Gold Coast Suns academy critics have it so wrong

Opinion: The only thing louder than the red playing guernsey presented to Gold Coast AFL draftees are the critics screaming out about a broken system. This is why they they are so misguided

Predictable, hypocritical and ignorant.

The outcry that followed Gold Coast’s four-player Round 1 haul in Monday night’s national AFL draft would have been shocking if it wasn’t so expected.

Jed Walter (pick 3), Ethan Read (9), Jake Rogers (14) and Will Graham (26) made history for the Suns by making the transition from the club’s academy system to the AFL list.

It was the academy’s most fruitful year and the quartet’s arrival bodes well for the club’s future as they embark on a bid to play finals footy in 2024 under new coach Damien Hardwick.

The only thing louder than the red playing guernsey presented to the draftees is the noise from the football world screaming out about a broken system and how the Suns have been given what critics believe to be another unfair leg up by the AFL.

(L-R) Will Graham, Ethan Read, Jed Walter and Jake Rogers of the Suns pose for a photograph following the 2023 AFL Draft at Marvel Stadium on November 21, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images.

But the argument against the academy can be picked apart like the seams of a decade-old cricket ball plucked from a dark cupboard for a backyard hit.

For years critics have lashed Gold Coast as a failed experiment that the AFL has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into because they have never made the top eight.

Those same people are now whinging the Suns have been able to develop four players worthy of being picked in the first round who could take them to finals, highlighting not only the club’s growth but the growth of football in the entire state.

You can’t have both, so which is it? Are they a failed venture or flourishing football franchise?

Rivals were happy to let Gold Coast have an academy, as long as they don’t pose a threat, right?

It’s the same narrative pushed out when Sydney were granted the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) and started to find success.

If all four of the draftees were not part of Gold Coast’s academy there is a high chance they would be playing rugby league or another sport.

Walter came from Western Australia at a young age but he could have walked into a league or rugby union side given his size.

If some want the academies scrapped, then are they willing to scap father-sons? Collingwood had brothers Nick and Josh Daicos in their grand final side in 2023 as well as Darcy Moore, the son of former Magpies captain Peter Moore.

AFL Grand Final between Collingwood and the Brisbane Lions at the MCG. Nick Daicos, Darcy Moore and Josh Daicos of the Magpies. Picture: Michael Klein

Gold Coast won’t have a father-son for at least 10 to 15 years and that is if the offspring of the handful of players who have played 100 games even plays the game or reaches the draft.

Those who are willing to sink the boot in also have short memories. Gold Coast have made sacrifices in the past two drafts in order to bring in all four players.

The Suns have only taken Mac Andrew and Bailey Humphrey in the past two years, trading out picks in order to get enough points so they could match bids on their own academy players.

The fear surrounding the draft haul must mean the Suns now pose a genuine threat for the first time in the club’s history.