After quite a deflating final quarter the Suns ended up soundly beaten by the Giants, at least on the scoreboard. But the Suns controlled large portions of that game without putting the required points on the board. With three debutants we all thought the Suns were in for a hiding but that performance shows they are much closer to a finals-ready side than I thought.
Another slow start to the game from Gold Coast allowed the Giants to build a bit of a lead. Their efficiency going inside 50 must have made Hardwick very jealous. But the Suns started winning clearance and getting decent forward entries. Lukosius found Walter one on one and he won a free to score his first ever goal. And Fiorini’s snap was very well taken.
Collins and Andrew were very strong in the air today and took plenty of intercept marks, but our build up play was poor we should have created a couple more chances than we did in Q1. Berry also missed a set shot from right in front that would have made the scoreline more reflective of the game around the ground.
The Suns kept the pressure up in the second, to slow the Giants transition and nab a couple of goals off a big chase-down tackle from Rosas and Clohesy finished a good team effort goal too. We really controlled the flow in the second quarter and stopped the Giants from imposing their style. But the chances they did have were very cheap off poor disposals out of defence or free kicks, allowing the Giants to stay right with them on the scoreboard.
The Giants made their pressure tell and kept their lead but the Suns missed two gilt-edged chances late on to stay within a goal at 3 quarter time.
The Giants got on the board first in the fourth after Berry gets too clever coming out of defence allowing a repeat entry that Hogan marks. The Suns answer quickly with a f50 turnover and handballs getting it to Read in the goal square to open his account in the AFl. The sun’s poor rebounding continues to hurt them as the Giants can keep sending it straight back in though. Gold Coast’s pressure definitely dropped off in the fourth and the Giants had more time to think their moves through. And the Suns forwards couldn’t get the ball to ground when the ball did get out of their half. Anderson had a big miss off a gimme turnover but he made up for it very soon after with a crucial set shot. But the Giants immediately answered with a centre clearance goal which will have infuriated Hardwick.
The issues clearing their lines were very frustrating because Andrew and Collins defended the balls coming in very well for the most part. But sloppy disposals kept the Suns from punishing the Giants in response. It felt like the Suns did a bad job of getting the ball to the likes of Powell and Lukosius and the rebounding midfielders. It was the likes of Andrew, Berry and Ainsworth making errors in the wrong parts of the ground. But I would have to confirm this on a rewatch. Put simply if you allow almost 20 more inside 50s than your opposition you are going to have to work far too hard to get the win.
Who would have guessed Sam Clohesy would be the pick of the debuts. He looked like the sort of winger lots of us thought Jeremy Sharp could be. He runs and runs and runs and then when he kicks the ball he doesn’t shank it. He’s great! Ellis won’t get a look-in anytime soon based on that performance. Read looked like he could handle chopping out in the ruck and his mobility was obvious. Against some teams he may not have a good matchup and have to step out of the 22 but otherwise I expect to see plenty more of him this season. Walter confirmed that he has the body strength to win marking contests at the highest level. The frees he won were down to his physicality not the speed we saw last week, he’s a gun. I didn’t see much of Will Graham in the moment so I will have to get a sense of his performance on the rewatch.
We have to mention the lack of efficiency going inside 50 once again there were quite a few chances where someone had plenty of time to pick out a team-mate in an uncongested forward 50 and they would inevitably fail to kick it to a Suns advantage. If we want to get the most out of Walter and King this has to improve. I think it’s a question of composure but I am not really sure. King also doesn’t help out his mids by his inconsistent effort in marking contests, he could still do a much better job of spoiling balls not to his advantage to give the smalls more of a chance. Lukosius has the same problem just down the other end now. They have to commit to every contest or good teams will always be able to punish you from intercept marks.
The fourth quarter is what we expected the whole game to look like. The Giants moving the ball how they want and the Suns not getting the most out of their possessions. It was disappointing after the first three quarters of effort to let the game get away from them like that. There is no point only working hard for 75% of the game. Its more of the same lesson for some of these players but most of the young players showed more than just promise. The same issues continue to plague the Suns. If you don’t hammer the scoreboard when you have the run of things you will inevitably fall short. And then when you aren’t dominating you have to fight hard when the ball is up for grabs to keep the opposition from capitalising.
Despite the loss that should have been a confidence-boosting performance for the four guys with less than 10 games under their belts. That should have set them up to get the job done against the Hawks at Carrara next week.
Eyes on the Suns 
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