‘Bitterly disappointed’: Great’s scathing call on Suns’ ‘dark cloud’ as horrific history repeating

The Gold Coast Suns’ insipid showing on Sunday left one AFL great seeing red and calling them out for blowing a key chance.

The First Crack team have lamented the Suns' missed opportunity.

Fox Footy pundits have lamented a big missed opportunity from Gold Coast in getting smashed by Carlton as the Suns’ hopes of a maiden finals berth took a hit.

It came after Gold Coast’s best stretch of form this season with consecutive Darwin wins over the Dogs and Crows before the club’s bye last weekend, with many predicting the side was capable of playing finals for the first time in its 13-year existence.

Watch every match of every round of the 2023 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >

But an underwhelming 59-point MCG defeat on Sunday to a Carlton side that’d lost six in a row denied the Suns an opportunity to be on equal wins to the eighth-placed Crows and now sit among a logjam of teams in the middle pack at 6-7.

The Suns fell to 6-7 (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Speaking on Fox Footy’s First Crack, dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna said it was signs of the “Suns of old” with too much inconsistency across the board within Stuart Dew’s side.

“I was bitterly disappointed with the Gold Coast Suns’ performance. They had a great opportunity,” Montagna said.

“They’d won five of their last seven and taken a couple of big scalps in Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs.

“But what they dished up was so poor in a golden opportunity against a team that are out of form and down on confidence.

“It was their second-lowest score of the year and they conceded their highest score of the year. The same problems arose, they had too many passengers.

“When they lose they have 7-10 guys that produce well below average of what you expect in a game of footy. I thought Ben King was beaten and they had a number of players really down.

“I think there’s inconsistency issues and maybe they do rely on too few and that’s something Stuart Dew needs to look at.”

It also raised the inevitable question of the Suns’ woes after their mid-season bye, falling to an 8-36 record overall after the break under Dew (excluding 2020 when there was no bye).

While Dew post-match emphasised that the current Gold Coast side was unique to previous iterations, Montagna believes the club’s post-bye woes have become damning.

“It is the black cloud hanging over the footy club ... it is glaringly obvious,” he added.

“It’s a different side and I’ve got more faith in this current group of Gold Coast Suns, but I expected more today.

“It’s onto them now post bye for the rest of the year, if they want to be taken as a genuine threat in the competition, they can’t keep producing results like this and drop off as the year goes on.”

Former Hawthorn sharpshooter Ben Dixon was also critical of Dew’s side’s inability to rise to the challenge with so much to play for.

“It’s their first game at the MCG (in 2023). They’re coming off two great wins in Darwin and have momentum ... everyone is saying: ‘This is the year where they’re going to take that next step,’ (Dew’s had) six years in charge,” Dixon said on Fox Footy.

“But MCG, the biggest stage, their young players would he jumping out of their skin, but we didn’t see it.”

The Suns face Hawthorn, Collingwood (both home), Port Adelaide (away) and St Kilda (home) in their next four games.

Originally published as ‘Bitterly disappointed’: Great’s scathing call on Suns’ ‘dark cloud’ as horrific history repeating