Gold Coast Suns chief executive Mark Evans says their annual trips to Darwin have brought the club closer together
An AFL club’s annual trips to Darwin for matches has helped bring the team closer together, its chief executive says.
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The Gold Coast Suns’ annual trips to Darwin have helped bring the entire club closer together, chief executive Mark Evans believes.
The Suns return to TIO Stadium for two matches this season, facing the Western Bulldogs on May 27 and the Adelaide Crows the following Sunday.
Evans told reporters at Marrara that consecutive matches in the Territory was a way of getting some respite from a “regimented” season.
“This is quite a unique opportunity to bring the entire club for 10 or 12 days, it’s almost like a mid-season activity for us that brings us closer together,” Evans said, with tickets for those matches now on sale.
“Go and actually see parts of the country and meet people that you wouldn’t ordinarily meet, that’s the fun bit in footy.
“If we keep getting victories it’s hard to think we’d ever want to break that (partnership).
“So I think we’ll be here for many years to come.
“It’s becoming a really important place for the Suns to come to and hopefully it goes for many years into the future.”
Evans said there had always been a “great depth of talent in the Territory”, with nine players at the club with Territory ties or were born in the Top End: Ben Long, Jed Anderson, Malcolm Rosas Jr, Lloyd Johnson, Sandy Brock, Jy Farrar, Sean Lemmens, Joel Jeffrey and Ashanti Bush in the AFLW.
He said the club would support an AFL licence bid from the Territory if it was “right for football in this part of the world”.
“Whatever football decides it wants to do in this part of the world, they’d get our support for that,” he said.
“We’d support whatever is right for the Territory.”
He also said new arrivals in Anderson, Johnson and Long had settled in well at the club.
Meanwhile, Jeffrey said it was a “dream come true” playing on home soil in front of family and friends last season, with the Suns playing North Melbourne and Hawthorn.
“I’ve got so many tickets to organise,” he said.
“It’s been unreal (at the Suns). I’ve been enjoying every moment of it until this point.”
AFLNT boss Sam Gibson said the peak body was “thrilled” to have the Suns back for two more games in 2023: “There’s a great connection between the Territory and the Gold Coast Suns.”
Tickets for the Suns’ two matches in Darwin went on sale at 10am on February 7 at afl.com.au
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