Gold Coast Suns: Takeaways from the trip to Darwin

It feels good to write this after a Suns win. It feels downright pleasant. They have made it back to even for wins and losses and we can all relax a bit as the Suns enjoy their bye. Before we prep ourselves for the second half of the season lets have another look at what stood out from the two rounds in Darwin.

Jack Lukosius

I don’t think it would be fair to start anywhere other than Luko. His 10 goals over 2 games is a massive achievement for him and confirms that he has found his spot as the third tall in the Suns forward line. What has really stood out about his goals is how well he is reading the ball in flight. He wasn’t known as a particularly good marker of the ball but he is now able to tell when it’s going over the back and when it’ll be on his head. He has also shown a much greater ability to body up his opponent and create space for himself at the drop zone. He battled well with Hinge, his progress is clear to see. With his newfound marking presence and already established field kicking skills he could become one of the best third tall/general forwards in the league very quickly. He can alternate with King as either the deep forward or as a link higher up the ground to confuse defences and free up both them and Levi. He just needs to limit the games where he barely sees the ball and has no impact, to a minimum ha needs to be a consistent threat game to game.

Darwin footy

We all knew that the conditions in Darwin would suit the Suns and it was really fantastic to watch Stuey Dew’s contest game at full pelt for 8 quarters. You can tell that the likes of Rowell, Swallow and Witts relish the opportunity to win a game off their backs and in both games the Suns took over in the third quarter and won clearance after clearance. Normally watching Suns players hoof balls out of contests to a pack is frustrating and it certainly was for the first 40 mins of the Crows’ game. But suddenly it clicked and Suns players amassed at every ground ball. Rowell is becoming unstoppable when he gets a whiff of the Sherrin and Swallow and Humphrey have filled in well in the absence of Miller. It helps that Dew has found the balance with his talls, with just three at either end meaning everyone else is more able to affect the game at ground level. The Bulldogs thought they had prepped for the weather in Darwin, with climate-controlled training and sweatbands and Adelaide were expected to compete around the ground as they have all season. But both fell to the grind of the Gold Coast and the humidity of the Top End. It really does allow Dew to play his style turned up to 11 and I hope the agreement to play two rounds in Darwin is renewed for the foreseeable future.

Defensive smalls getting the job done

Last week on AFL 360 Leigh Montagna shone his spotlight on the performance of the Suns defence who are winning 1 on 1 contests as often as any team in the league for the last few rounds. I have to say I wouldn’t have guessed that, but having paid more attention to it since then I think I see what he means. Other than the occasional mark on lead like we saw from Ugle-Hagan and Walker, small forwards aren’t kicking bags on the Suns since Powell came back in. Lemmens handled Cameron quite well against Brisbane, Weightman dived for his second against Long and Long again rattled Rankine and locked him away all game. Macpherson has also worked diligently in defence, a real feather in his cap after converting from the front half, while Powell hasn’t really missed a beat since returning from his horrible injury. A special mention has to go to Joel Jeffery who looks much more influential at half back than he did forward this season. It seems the Suns have the makings of a really strong defence, Ballard is marking everything in arm’s reach and if the smalls keep winning the ground ball the Suns have shown they can really frustrate good sides. The only hole in recent weeks has been Collins who struggled with Tex, Jamarra and Daniher. His form has been a bit up and down this season so maybe he needs the bye to reset and then he can really get stuck into Harry McKay who he got the better of last year at Metricon.

Closing out wins

For the first time this season and twice in a row the Suns managed to close out close games in the 4^th quarter. The Bulldogs benefited from some dodgy umpiring and still couldn’t find their way in front. And Adelaide, a little shell-shocked from the 9-goal run they allowed couldn’t re-find their footing. To do that consecutively against finals contenders will be huge for the group’s belief and proves to Dew and the coaches that they can coach their way through big moments, because we sometimes forget that the coaching staff are growing with the squad in the same way. It will serve them well in tough games like the Blues at the MCG and the Pies at the Bank in the near future. One of the common denominators in this new-found late-game steel was Bailey Humphrey. We have really enjoyed watching such a young player blossom, and for him to score crucial, highly skilful goals late in both games was superb. All this in the same week he signs on for 4 more years on the Gold Coast. I hope this Darwin trip is remembered as the baptism of a wonderful career in the red and gold with silverware in all its forms along the way. I have some plans for the bye week so look out for more from Eyes on the Suns next week as we look back on the rounds gone project forward to the rounds to come.