AFL: Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew confident more-mature Suns can be more competitive after beating West Coast
A season-opening defeat of West Coast has buoyed Suns coach Stuart Dew, who believes his players are ready to win more regularly
AFL
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Stuart Dew says Gold Coast’s list profile is close to a point where it can look forward to competing and winning each week.
That’s why he expected his side to beat West Coast in its round 1 clash on Sunday, not because the Eagles had 16 players unavailable for the clash.
The Suns’ leaders, Jarrod Witts and Touk Miller, have both played more than 100 games and were outstanding in leading their team to a 27-point victory on Sunday.
Despite having played only 18 games, Matt Rowell is now in his third AFL season, as are Noah Anderson and Jeremy Sharp.
Rowell, Alex Davies and Sharp were the only Gold Coast players on Perth Stadium with fewer than 30 games under their belts.
Seven Suns had more than 100 games’ experience and eight had between 50 and 100 matches.
“The Eagles still had the spread across their lines; they weren’t depleted in one area. They still had the spread of experience and talent,” Dew said.
“We expected to win based on our form and our expectations and nothing to do with West Coast. Our games profile is starting to lift to where we want it and where we have been predicting.
“It has been a planned build of the footy club and our list profile. As that matures, our expectations go up and we look forward to each week.”
The recent re-signings of Miller and Ben King also suggest that the senior playing group is on board with the club’s direction.
“The boys have been on the journey and they know,” Dew said.
“We have been honest with them about where we have been and where we are at and where we want to go.
“The older guys and younger guys have bought in, and that shows a connected footy club that is chasing something and we’re going to get after it as much as we can.”
Gold Coast’s next chance to ‘get after it’ comes on Saturday when it hosts reigning premier Melbourne.
The Suns will need to be a bit cleaner in front of goal to trouble the high-flying Demons.
Gold Coast kicked 16.11 against the Eagles, but had 8.11 on the board at three-quarter-time and trailed by six points at that stage.
The Suns finished with 27 scoring shots, but that doesn’t include the five deliberate attempts at goal that didn’t register anything.
Dew said he was happy with the progress the forward line had made, considering King’s injury came so close to the start of the season.
He did admit to looking at substitute Alex Sexton, a known goalkicker, sitting on the bench and wondering if he’d made a mistake in not playing him.
“You always do when you have a fit and healthy player there; your mind can wonder. It was a tough selection decision,” Dew said.
“He had an operation at the end of the year and hasn’t had the opportunities. He’s all good now and will play an important part for us.
“We’ve had 27 shots at goals, so we’re creating opportunities.
“We’d like to take more of those opportunities but if taking opportunities is the problem we are trying to sort out, rather than creating opportunities, we’ll keep plugging away.
“We’ve had only a small period without Ben there. It will take a little while.”
Originally published as AFL: Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew confident more-mature Suns can be more competitive after beating West Coast
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