Suns coach Stuart Dew says his players cannot afford to ‘burn energy’ on what critics say

Gold Coast Suns coach Stuart Dew believes he doesn’t need to motivate his players with comments from critics.

The Suns’ Ned Moyle is set to get another chance on Friday. Picture: Chris Hyde / Getty Images

Suns coach Stuart Dew claims he’s not listening to criticism of Gold Coast’s poor start to the AFL season, saying doing so would be “negligent” to his players.

The Suns have started the season with three losses from four matches to put a dampener – not for the first time in their history – on pre-season expectations this could finally be the year they play finals football.

Brisbane Lions’ triple-premiership winner, Jonathan Brown, took aim at the Suns on Monday night’s episode of Fox Footy’s On The Couch, questioning whether “high standards” were being driven at the Gold Coast.

“Do you think the fact that the Suns maybe have to walk on eggshells, the coaching staff and the people around the footy club, because they’re worried about losing players to homesickness? Do you think that’s anything?” Brown said.

“I believe that’s been the problem at Gold Coast Suns for a long time.

“The challenge of getting a list to be accountable and play with resilience and toughness and competitiveness is you’ve got to make tough buggers out of them, so you’ve got to drive some hard standards.”

Suns rookie ruckman Ned Moyle is tipped to play again on Friday. Picture: Chris Hyde / Getty Images

However, Dew won’t use criticism of the Suns to motivate his players ahead of Friday’s Gather Round clash against Fremantle at Norwood Oval. Instead, he will ignore it.

“I haven’t listened to it,” Dew said.

“That’s fine to have opinions and observations … it’s Australia’s game, everyone can have a chat.

“We can’t burn our energy on that stuff. It would be negligent to the players. We’ve got to concentrate on what we can control.

“We’ve shown our best this year, (and) we’ve shown our worst, so we’re trying to close that gap.

“I’m certainly not putting opinions up on the wall for motivation.”

Dew said the Suns needed to make “better decisions” when in possession of the ball.

He also said his side had to emulate Fremantle – who have also started the season with just one win from four games – in contested ball.

“If you don’t match them in that area you’re going to be playing them in your own half,” Dew said.

“Fremantle are probably scratching their heads as much as us. We are preparing for their best, and we want to make sure we prepare to bring our best.”

It’s unlikely the Suns will risk playing co-captain Jarrod Witts, who missed last weekend’s 53-point loss to St Kilda and remains “sore”.

“It’s hard to put a timeline on it; some days are good for him, some days aren’t,” Dew said.

“We anticipate that when we bring him back in he’s at a really good level.”

Dew also said the form of rookie ruckman Ned Moyle on debut against the Saints meant there was no need to gamble on Witts’ fitness.

“We’ve got confidence in (Moyle) which allows us not to take risks with ‘Wittsy’. It’s good exposure for him and obviously great for his development,” the Suns mentor said.

“We want to pick the best team and the most in-form team. There are some players in form that we’d like to reward.”