AFL R3 Gold Coast Suns vs Geelong Cats Review

The first win is on the board. Who would have guessed in pre-season that it would come against the Cats, and that Jack Lukosius would kick a bag. Footy can be funny sometimes in beautiful ways.

The big standout point of the game for me was that the tactical gameplan of the Suns and the team selection were spot on. Dew picked a fast side that would have legs late into the game and be able to apply pressure across the ground. Tactically they played fast too, running and carrying, handballing out of defence at every opportunity, rebounding to the wing and through the middle. The small forwards worked hard to create forward half turnovers and the whole team were quick to set up and keep Geelong from moving the ball easily.

Dew may have made some questionable choices in the first two rounds but credit is due. He played a blinder today, adjusting the Suns’ style of play drastically to target Geelong’s flaws. Now the execution was far from perfect, there was some all-time sloppy footy on display for portions of that game. But they stuck to the plan and it came good.

The first thing most people noticed from the game was Ben King dropping easy marks early on, but what wasn’t mentioned was the effectiveness of the kicks to him. Ultimately it’s a positive that he had such clear marking opportunities after struggling to get to the ball previously. Rosas has looked clean by foot this year and this first one was superb.

Several of Lukosius’ goals came from direct entries too. I think this is down to the pressure creating turnovers and Geelong also making mistakes you wouldn’t expect them to make. We haven’t been primarily a ‘points scored off turnover’ team in the last few seasons but based on the profile of the 22 it was the right approach. It created chances where Jeffery, Miller, Hollands early on all had kicks inside 50 to a 1 on 1 or an open target rather than a big pack of forwards or even just into a forward 50  already full of 15-20 players.

It was the first game in years against a non-bottom 4 side where they didn’t have to work for minute after minute and effort after effort at stoppages and contests to score goals. The chances were pounced on rapidly and didn’t require Rankine-style magic to come off either. Making 14 tackles inside 50 versus 4 for Geelong highlights how Gold Coast fought to make the most of their territory gains while Geelong were unable to slow down the Suns’ rebounds.

You don’t need Jeremy Cameron and Charlie Curnow to score goals if you can win the ball in the forward half or transition from defence before the opposition set up. The Suns did that pretty well. Anderson won’t kick an easier goal all year and credit has to go to Holman  who created a goal with gut running and a sensible chip to King.

This offensive turnaround has coincided with the return of Lachie Weller to the backline and the revival of Darcy Macpherson’s career down back too. They were excellent against the Cats at launching attacks and ensuring clean transitions. Weller timed his sprints well and his disposals didn’t let down his effort, while Macpherson again surprised with some key marks and really smart kicks both in defence and a crucial attacking kick to find Lukosius inside 50 late on.

With Powell back in this week too the backline may find its shape quicker than expected. In 1 on 1 contests Collins and Ballard look vulnerable when they don’t have suitable physical matchups, but if the smalls can buzz around and recover ground balls and relaunch forward they can limit the amount of marking contests the defence has to endure. Basically the best defence is a good attack.

The simplest way to spot the change in strategy is, every time a Sun reached the point on the way out of defence where they would boot it down the line to a pack like they have for years now, instead they handballed it to someone in a little more space. This allowed players further down the ground to find space and created easier marking opportunities or quick handballs which unsteadied the Cats defence and made the journey forward much quicker. Collingwood and Richmond are the gold standard for this and if the Suns develop this new element to their game we could see some really exciting football from now on.

Saying that, the inside 50 count for Geelong was still over 50, the difference was their efficiency inside 50 which was only 38%. Other than Cameron being Cameron, they got two goals from holding the ball frees as the Suns tried to run out rather than hoofing it clear. This is an understandable downside to a fresh strategy which didn’t cost the Suns too much.

You couldn’t see it on the broadcast but it was clear the defence was set up well whenever Geelong wanted to move the ball forward without the advantage of a turnover. They paused, kicked to contests and allowed the Suns pressure to tell.

The other key was the clearance game, it turns out if you win 16 more clearances than the other team you can lessen the danger of their attack. Rowell was the star and was visibly the most bullish at the contest but Miller and Anderson also had more clearances than any Cat.

Not that everything went super smoothly. There was some adjusting to the gameplan early on. Those quick handballs didn’t go to hand as often as they should have and Gold Coast were 3. 9 at half time. Of course an in form Ben King would have had about 4 goals in the first half but beyond that the overall skill level of the game was pretty low and against a more switched on side (like St Kilda next week) the Suns can’t afford to let chances go begging and give up some of the chances they did.

There is so much to build on from this game though, there are rays of hope to cling to. Can Lukosius back this up and actual start to fulfil his potential? I don’t know but it definitely feels more possible now that at any other time in the last two years. Ben King will have earned a confidence boost from that speccy and should keep growing into the season. Oea playing up the ground and out wide while Holman, Rosas, Ainsworth and Jeffery attack the ground game is a potential solution to the Suns’ running issues and may be the right blend going forward. Macpherson’s been an All-Australian halfback for a fortnight. And no one’s talking about Miller and Anderson’s form because Matt Rowell is making up the difference.

I’m focussing on the positives this week. There will be plenty of time to pick apart the weaknesses as we go, for now I want to praise the change in approach, Lukosius for bouncing back and showing what he’s made of and Ben King for sticking at it and getting his reward.

All footage featured belongs to the AFL