Gold Coast chairman Bob East on Damien Hardwick, Stuart Dew and the club’s pursuit of a first AFL premiership

Gold Coast has set an ambitious time frame for when it expects to be in flag contention under Damien Hardwick, while dismissing rumours it tapped up the premiership winner while he was still at Richmond.

Gold Coast chairman Bob East has declared ambitious plans to win the club’s first premiership as he was adamant the Suns had a clear conscience over their chase for new coach Damien Hardwick.

Second-year chairman East told this masthead the Suns had to shoot for the stars and emphatically state their premiership plans as part of a whole-club approach to win a historic first flag.

His review of the club’s coaching, football department and off-field operations early last year saw a Gold Coast board that had extended Stuart Dew’s tenure in mid-2022 sack him by July 2023.

But the businessman who established the hotels chain Mantra Group and at one stage chaired Tourism Australia strongly pushed back against the idea Hardwick had committed to the Suns earlier than the club’s stated timeline.

He told this masthead the AFL had no influence in the club’s decision to hire Hardwick and said if the triple premiership coach had not proved in the club’s Italian meetings he still had the fire in the belly, Gold Coast would have gone elsewhere.

East said a club that has signed Hardwick on a six-year deal has a three-year plan to push deep into finals but also wants it to be known it is now chasing premierships hard in the short-term future.

“It’s just a heightened focus on why we are here. We are here to be successful in AFL and AFLW. It’s about getting an organisation structured and populated with people that are absolutely clear on why they are there,” East said.

“We have moved mountains over the last six months to reposition this club and the test is to see if we can hit the ground running. But we have to have a very clear view that premiership success is the goal. And how that translates is finals and deep runs into finals which give you that opportunity.”

Damien Hardwick holds off Malcolm Rosas during a Gold Coast training session. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

THE REVIEW THAT STAMPED STUART DEW’S PAPERS

East was part of the board that extended coach Stuart Dew’s contract in July 2022 as a show of faith even as Alastair Clarkson and Brad Scott were seen as gettable for the Suns.

But when he replaced promoter Tony Cochrane in early 2023 he began a top-to-bottom review of football, club engagement and revenue bases that involved countless formal and informal interviews with club staff.

The Suns started Dew’s fifth season 1-4 and while he would last until July amid reports of his demise, East clearly realised early it was time for a change.

“It’s challenging. It’s always a hard decision on a personal level. But I have been in a lot of organisations that I have had to transition or bought businesses where I had to stamp a new approach. I go back to evidence-based thinking. Take the emotion out. What do we have here? Who are our competitors? Who are the people who can get us there and how are we going about doing it? It became clear we needed to make a change of coach.

“There is a higher media focus in this space, which I discovered. I got the brunt of it, and there is a lot of emotion. But the outcomes became evidence and we executed on those outcomes.”

The Suns sacked Stuart Dew last year. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Does he regret the slow-moving train wreck of Dew’s eventual sacking that saw reports he was to be sacked denied before his demise was confirmed weeks later?

“Look, they were challenging times. Let’s not kid ourselves. The processes and systems behind it, I thought were great. The optics in the media and the frontrunning was unfortunate. So we acknowledge that. It doesn’t mean we wouldn’t follow the same process and structure.”

A COACHING SEARCH WITH ONLY ONE CANDIDATE

As Hardwick quit Richmond citing burnout 10 rounds into the same season there were claims he already knew he had the Gold Coast job

East rejects emphatically the suggestion the Suns had made a promise to Hardwick or even contacted him at that stage of the season.

“Absolutely not. We formed a view we needed a different coach and we set about finding one. And as with business once you think you are set on a new direction the sooner you take that direction the better. I don’t like to see things atrophy and I don’t like being disingenuous.

“Clearly Damien has the hard skills. The expertise. He’s been there and done that. In a sense we have got him from down south. But our job is to make this culturally right. We had to know it, love it, own it and be hungrier than he was with previous premierships or this will not work.

The Suns say they never contacted Damien Hardwick before his exit from Richmond. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

“We’ve seen successful people going to new places and they haven’t been able to replicate it. The turning point was seeing Damien not only discuss how he is going to go about doing it, but seeing the passion behind it. He’s hungry. He wants to make this a success. He wants to take us to our first premiership.”

East says Hardwick is not on an outlandish salary which will impact the football department’s needs and was not parachuted into the club by the AFL.

“None. Quite honestly none,” he said of the AFL’s involvement.

“And in our discussions with Dimma it wasn’t discussed either.”

Of Hardwick’s salary East is clear: “It’s nothing outlandish, quite genuinely.

“If money was a really big consideration …. I have never had any success attracting people to my businesses with money. I do believe in remunerating people for what they are capable of delivering. This wouldn’t be front-page news in terms of his remuneration.”

Gold Coast’s Hewago Paul Oea enjoys a win with fans last year. Picture: Matt Roberts/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

GOLD COAST AS AN AFL MONEY-PIT

Gold Coast this week announced the opening of a second childcare centre to boost earning capacity with East also commissioning former Suns chairman John Witheriff to look at improved transport links to the club’s Metricon Stadium venue.

East admits it will take time — and on-field success — but says a key priority is to boost revenue and profitability given the perception the Suns have been a financial drain on the AFL.

“(Andrew Dillon) is very cognisant of our plight and we are very realistic and honest. We don’t want to be the squeaky wheel. We don’t always want to be having our hand out so he has quickly jumped in to find ways to help us help ourselves.

“We will increase our earnings. We have internal projections and it’s slow and steady and the Commission is really supportive of that approach.”

Originally published as Gold Coast chairman Bob East on Damien Hardwick, Stuart Dew and the club’s pursuit of a first AFL premiership