AFL 2024: How Gold Coast Suns are pulling out all the stops to solve puzzling away form

Numbers don’t lie. Especially these ones. Gold Coast is among the best teams in the AFL at home – and the worst on the road. But Damien Hardwick is leaving no stone unturned to solve his biggest issue.

Gold Coast has gone back to the drawing board this week to unlock exactly why its form away from People First Stadium is so night-and-day different to the stunning footy on display at home this season.

Once the celebrations of the Suns’ gritty 11-point victory over Essendon died down, attention immediately turned to Saturday night versus St Kilda at Marvel Stadium and how they might arrest a worrying road form slump that stretches back more than 12 months.

Gold Coast’s last win away from People First or TIO Stadium, its Darwin home away from home, came in round nine last year against West Coast in Perth.

Damien Hardwick says the Suns are doing all they can to unlock the reason why their form away from home has been so poor this season. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

While Hardwick has been in charge, the Suns have lost all five of their away games this season.

He confirmed the club had started looking under almost every rock for any subtle changes to the travel schedule that could unlock a form reversal on the road, even joking he would take control of the pre-game music selection if it meant a faster start on Saturday night.

“There will be a couple little things we’ll try this week. Whether it has a direct impact on the result or not I’m not too sure but what we do know is we’d love to win away,” Hardwick said.

“Our form line over the last month or so, we’ve played three of the top four sides and managed to beat two of them so we’re in reasonable form. We just have to make sure that transfers to the away deck this week.”

The Suns have well and truly established a fortress at Carrara. Given Brisbane and Geelong’s struggles at home this season, it might now be the most difficult trip in footy for a travelling team.

Gold Coast Home and Away 2024
People First + TIO	Away
Points For		107.9	66.2
Points from Turnover		67.4	42.0
Points from Stoppage		36.9	23.0
Disposals		+44.6	-59.8
Contested Possessions		+10.6	-9.2
Clearances		+6.1	-6.8
Inside 50s		+14.9	-8.8
Points Against		68.1	104.6
Points Against from Turnover		41.4	69.0
Points Against from Stoppage		22.1	35.4

Just ask the Bombers, who fell to their first loss in eight games last Sunday.

But the incredible home record only further highlights how poor they have been away from home this season. Almost every major statistical category drops off a cliff when Hardwick’s side hits the road.

Scoring is down by 41.7 points, from 107.9 points per game to 66.2, while their key avenues to goal, turnover (-25.4) and stoppage (-13.9), also plummet.

Conversely, the Suns concede an average of 36.5 points more on the road than at home and are particularly vulnerable from turnover.

Whereas they dominate possession at home, they average close to 60 fewer disposals than their opposition on the road. They go from one of the best clearance and inside differential teams in the competition to among the worst.

The Suns are 0-5 on the road this season and were soundly beaten by Carlton when they played at Marvel Stadium a fortnight ago. Picture: Josh Chadwick/AFL Photos

Only a fortnight ago they travelled to Melbourne to take on Carlton at Marvel Stadium and were soundly beaten up around the ball by Patrick Cripps and co, prompting Hardwick to call out his midfield.

Now the Suns return to the scene of that crime with an even greater expectation to win, against a St Kilda outfit struggling to hit the heights of last season.

“Lesson learned. We didn’t play particularly well there,” Hardwick said.

“We want to work on that. We made some adjustments last week, getting guys to understand what certain defences will stress you with. We’re pretty fortunate that Essendon and St Kilda play a relatively similar defence.”

Even if the Suns go unbeaten at home this season that will leave them with 11 wins – a club-record tally, but still two wins shy of the top eight benchmark established in recent years.

They must bank at least two road wins from their remaining seven away days if they are to be any chance of featuring in September for the first time.

A St Kilda side returning from a trip to Western Australia and which has won just two of its past eight games would appear to be the perfect opportunity to end the hoodoo and chart a course for finals footy.

Originally published as AFL 2024: How Gold Coast Suns are pulling out all the stops to solve puzzling away form