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Despite admitting to pursuing Alastair Clarkson for a leadership role, the Gold Coast Suns have confirmed Stuart Dew will coach the club next season, but other senior roles remains open.
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Gold Coast has emphatically backed Stuart Dew as the club’s senior coach for next season despite another late-season slump for his young team.
Suns chief executive Mark Evans told News Corp the club had never been in doubt about honouring Dew’s contract.
While the club did contact Alastair Clarkson about a mentoring or senior leadership role, it believes Dew has enough upside to continue the club’s improvement.
The Suns showed signs of improvement in wins over Richmond and GWS but finished the year with another 1-5 slump and failed to make finals for the 11th season in the club’s short history.
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Evans said on Monday Dew would lead the young team into 2022 after four seasons in charge with a 19-1-63 win-loss record.
“Stu is our coach for next year. He is contracted through to next season and we think he has plenty of upside as a coach. He has got great relationships with our playing group and our leadership group and he sees the game really well,” he said.
“All the way along we have been talking about what we would add to our program to support him and all other aspects of our group. The football review is still being finalised so we will sit down and discuss it once it’s done. At our best we mixed it with the best teams in the competition but we weren’t able to sustain that from game to game and sometimes within a game.
“We have to address what the gaps are with that and make the right choice from here as to how we improve aspects of our performance.”
Despite reports over the weekend the club’s assistant coaches are contracted and required, including Rhyce Shaw, Josh Drummond, Tate Kaesler and Tim Clarke.
The Suns are open to bringing in a senior assistant after contacting coaches including Michael Voss, and could add another assistant coach to their staff given a football cap lift of $250,000 to $6.45 million per season.
The Suns have had talks with former GWS football boss Wayne Campbell, who is their preferred candidate to take over the head of football role from Jon Haines.
But Campbell is well entrenched in Sydney with a young family, so will have to consider his circumstances which might make it difficult for him to take on the role.
Evans said he was thrilled former North Melbourne coach Shaw had been able to settle into the Gold Coast after he stepped down from his senior role to work on his mental health.
“He has been terrific. His experience and his manner with the players has taken our program to a new level.”
The Suns are keen to re-sign Jack Lukosius, Izak Rankine and Ben King over the summer but it remains to be seen whether players already locked in to 2022 will hold off on deals.
King has been adamant he will see out his contract with the Suns and will not consider trade offers in this upcoming period.
Touk Miller won the Suns’ club champion award this week and is set to sign a long-term contract past his current deal expiring in 2022.
The Suns have considered whether to offer Sydney free agent Luke Parker or Fremantle’s contracted ruck-forward Rory Lobb offers given their need to bring in more experience.
But at this stage they look less likely given they are not yet in the finals window and are keen to consider key forwards to help marking target King.
Hurley’s desperate battle as young Dons get green light
Essendon will give Michael Hurley every chance to make an amazing return from a serious infection that decimated his season despite upcoming hip surgery.
But Hurley still faces an uphill battle to make a complete recovery and return to the Essendon senior side next year.
Amid conjecture about his future Hurley has been in no doubt that he wants to honour the last season of a five-year deal he signed to return to the club after the Essendon player bans of 2016.
That hip surgery should still have him on track to make a return across the summer.
But it is understood he still faces a significant battle to gain full movement in his body and reach the speed and agility he would need to again become a dominant AFL defender.
If it became apparent across the summer he was not able to get back to full fitness his contract would still be honoured with Essendon.
But in a worst-case scenario the Dons would then have list space for a summer rookie to add to their emerging list.
The Dons will hope to get a full pre-season into No.10 draft pick Zach Reid after he suffered a stress fracture in his lower back in July, with the club optimistic he will be able to train fully across summer.
Second-year forward Harry Jones had foot surgery after a stress fracture but after making a strong recovery from a similar injury on the opposite foot last year the Dons are optimistic he can also enjoy a full summer.
Essendon’s David Zaharakis and Cale Hooker have both moved on, with Hooker deciding to retire and Zaharakis keen to play on elsewhere.
Patrick Ambrose has also retired and Irving Mosquito is not expected to return to the club, so the Dons will have several list spots to fill as they attempt to scour the market for a key position forward.
Essendon would be in a much better position to lure Ben King than St Kilda if he remained out of contract at the end of next year.
They have cap space and the opportunity for King, who despite the romance of playing alongside brother Max plays the identical position in the forward line.
While there are a handful of key forwards on the market, few are in the 23-to-25 year-old age bracket who could grow alongside the Dons as they hit the premiership window in coming years.
What new coach means for in-limbo Pies
Brayden Maynard is thrilled with the Collingwood appointment of Craig McRae and determined to help him rise up the table despite chatter about the defender’s future at the Pies.
Maynard is going nowhere despite list managers asking about his future after a couple of reports mid-season about his status.
The Pies star, who took on big jobs on marking forwards to show his versatility in the back end of the year, has a season to run on his deal before becoming a free agent.
Those talks will likely ramp up over summer, but Maynard has become one of those heart-and-soul Pies who will be the bedrock of the club’s next chapter of success.
He turns 25 in coming weeks and has missed just six games in the past six years.
Maynard is contrated until the end of next season and he isn’t in any particular hurry to give away his free agency rights given the Pies self-confessed cap issues.
Collingwood players cannot wait to get invested in McRae’s particular brand of team building.
A series of one-on-one meetings with the new coach will help decide the futures of a number of in-limbo players including Mason Cox, Brayden Sier and Josh Thomas.
McRae is intent on meeting with his players to get a sense of their capabilities and potential as he charts a path forward for his new club.
Cox was told in his exit meetings he wouldn’t be guaranteed a spot so he should look around in case an offer does not come.
Clearance beast Sier is in the same position, hopeful of another contract. But he played just seven games this season for 28 in total after an integral role in the Pies’ 2018 grand final run.
Thomas is waiting for another contract despite 20 games this year for 12 goals and 266 possessions.
Football boss Graham Wright made clear again this week the Pies were close on Scott Pendlebury’s deal on either a two-year contract or a one-year plus trigger clause deal.
Wright has said the club still has salary cap concerns to work through but they would need a similar remedy to last year’s trade period.
At this stage their only big draft investment will be Nick Daicos, so the Magpies will have to become inventive with some Essendon-style late pick swaps if they want to bring in more young talent.
Collingwood had some interest in Richmond’s Patrick Naish last year but at this stage won’t be making a play for the delisted Tiger.
SAINTS RULE OUT PARKER TRADE
St Kilda has ruled itself out of any interest in free agent Luke Parker, who is intent on considering his options given only a two-year offer from the Swans.
Parker won the Sydney best-and-fairest this week and is looking for a four-year deal worth around $700,000 a season.
Sydney has offered only two years at around $500,000-$550,000.
At this stage Gold Coast is considered making a play but Parker turns 29 in October and the Suns are more focused on key forwards.
Parker would be a strong fit for a club such as St Kilda which believes it is opening up a premiership window.
But the Saints are looking to keep cash for a bid for Ben King next year.
The Saints hoping for excellent seasons from Hunter Clark and Jade Gresham next year to reinvigorate a midfield that dropped out of the top eight for contested possession differential and clearance differential.
St Kilda’s Dan Hannebery is believed to have made a financial sacrifice that could help the club’s cap space given only 15 games in three seasons.
But despite speculation he might have split next year’s money into the 2022-23 seasons, it can be confirmed his guaranteed contract will expire at the end of next year.
It means the Saints have only one more year of a deal that when struck was to be a five-year deal but ended up at four years on over $700,000 with a fifth-year trigger.
Opinions are split on Parker’s worth given he turns 29 before next season.
He is a stoppage beast who can kick 20 goals a season and never misses a game but some list bosses will worry that without pace he could hit a wall at 31 and leave them with a big wage bill in his last seasons.
SUNS IN LAST-DITCH BID TO KEEP YOUNG STARS
The embattled Gold Coast Suns will restructure their floundering football department ahead of what shapes as a make-or-break year for the expansion club.
The Suns parted ways with head of football Jon Haines on Friday as the club’s revolving door of key personnel continues to spin.
Midfield coach Josh Francou also departed during another miserable season and Stuart Dew is now the senior coach under the most pressure to keep his job.
Chief executive Mark Evans will oversee a review of the football department structure.
List manager Craig Cameron will steer the football department while the Suns search for a full-time replacement.
The football department shake-up looms as critical with prized youngsters Ben King, Jack Lukosius and Izak Rankine all coming out of contract next year.
The trio were taken in the 2018 Super Draft in what looked like Gold Coast’s final roll of the dice to build a successful club.
But if King, Lukosius and Rankine walk out then there will be grave fears placed on the club’s future.
King is certain to receive mega offers from Victorian clubs including St Kilda, where twin brother Max plays, and Essendon.
South Australians Lukosius and Rankine will also field strong interest.
Port Adelaide list boss Jason Cripps declared before the 2018 draft that he would attempt to lure the locals home if they were drafted by the Suns.
Evans credited Haines for “resetting” the football department after taking over from Marcus Ashcroft four years ago.
PIES, BLUES IN BATTLE TO SIGN DOG
Lifelong Western Bulldogs supporter Patrick Lipinski has played his last game for the club and will formally request a trade to either Collingwood or Carlton later this month.
Lipinski, 23, fell out of favour mid-season and has managed just two AFL games since May. He was not named in the 26-man squad for Saturday night’s semi-final against Brisbane Lions.
The goalkicking midfielder falls out of contract this year and has no interest in signing the deal tabled by the Bulldogs early in the season.
It was speculated that Lipinski could land at Sydney next year where he would add to a dangerous forward mix of players such as Isaac Heeney and Oliver Florent.
But the Swans’ salary cap remains incredibly tight and they would struggle to afford Lipinski’s salary.
Last year they had to offload Aliir Aliir, who was named All-Australian this season, so ruckman Tom Hickey could join the club.
Lipinski sat in the MCG stands dressed in red, white and blue as the Dogs broke their 62-year premiership drought in 2016.
The fairytale looked complete two months later when the Dogs drafted Lipinski at pick No.28.
But sources close to Lipinski think he will seek a fresh start at either the Blues or Magpies after playing 56 games in five years at Whitten Oval.
The Blues are likely to trade draft pick No.6 for Adam Cerra while the Magpies would probably prefer to deal in future picks, given they will require points to secure Nick Daicos this year.
The Dogs are in a similar position and must accrue picks to help them land boom teenager Sam Darcy.
Magpies football boss Graham Wright also confirmed this week that the club’s salary cap remained tight one year on from the fire sale that wrecked chaos at the club.
DOG FATHER SON HASN’T DECLARED FUTURE... YET
While Nick Daicos has already committed to Collingwood as a father-son, exams and school commitments are the only thing preventing Sam Darcy from a similar decision at the Bulldogs.
The 204cm utility, who has shown impressive gifts in the ruck, attack and defence this year, is wants to complete his education commitments this year before declaring his football future.
It is only a matter of time before he commits to the club, which is well aware he has several years of development ahead of him.
Regardless, the Dogs will pay whatever price is needed for Darcy in draft points, which will only be boosted when Patrick Lipinski leaves for a rival club.
Mitch Wallis is likely to be on the move as well, but the Dogs would be unlikely to secure any meaningful free agency compensation for him given the salary he would command elsewhere.
IS DAWSON HEADING HOME?
Jordan Dawson’s decision to consider a move home to South Australia is purely based on family issues rather than the salary cap squeeze that the Swans are suffering.
Dawson’s exceptional back half of the year saw him finishing third in the Swans’ best and fairest, with both Adelaide and Port Adelaide chasing the silky wingman-half forward.
His penetrating left foot would be at home across any forward line given his elite kicking skills, with Dawson weighing up the decision and genuinely 50-50 about whether to request a trade.
As reported by the Herald Sun this week, the Blues are confident they can land tagger and midfielder George Hewett from Sydney as well as Carlton’s Adam Cerra.
So losing 24-year-old Dawson just as he is emerging as a potential AFL A-Grader would be a significant loss.
So many players who live interstate have in recent seasons been able to regularly see family and friends in-season because of games played interstate or mid-season breaks.
But for players like Cerra and Dawson that has been especially difficult through Covid times which means many have barely seen those close to them for 18 months.
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