How ‘selfish’ Suns fell from contenders to rock bottom
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After three rounds of the AFL season, Gold Coast sat first on the ladder and were premiership favourites with the bookmakers.
Their red-hot start made sense coming off nine first-round picks in three years via the draft, thanks to their academy, and put the icing on the cake by signing Melbourne star Christian Petracca.
Suns players leave the field after the Carlton loss. Getty Images
After banking their first-ever finals win in 2025, the growth of their young stars, boasting a list as strong as any in the competition and having a proven premiership coach in Damien Hardwick, 2026 felt like the year the Suns would truly arrive and finally make their mark on the competition.
And while the early signs were good, it has since devolved into a nightmare on multiple levels.
Gold Coast have now lost nine games in a row, despite having effectively their best team available and minimal injury stress to deal with.
They were beaten by a Carlton team missing Jacob Weitering and Harry McKay on the weekend, and while the margin was ultimately close, the scoreboard flattered the Suns thanks to some poor goal kicking by the Blues.
In the end, Gold Coast allowed a Carlton team without McKay and Charlie Curnow to put 110 points on them, in another damning performance.
That has epitomised this losing streak, with the Suns conceding runs of 100-plus points against North Melbourne, Brisbane, Geelong, Hawthorn, Collingwood, Adelaide and now Carlton across the last nine games.
Geelong champion Jimmy Bartel believes these defensive issues are at the core of Gold Coast’s problems.
“It was the same old Suns. They went and played for themselves and have no value for defence,” Bartel told Nine’s Footy Furnace.
“The numbers were pretty significant in Carlton’s favour. The Suns were in the game, but that was more down to their efficiency and talent than defensive work.
“At the moment, the Suns can say what they want and fire shots at everyone, but they only play, I reckon, one-and-a-half of the three phases of the game.
“When they’ve got the ball, when it’s in dispute, and when the other team has the ball. When they’ve got it, they’re fine, half competing in the contest, no interest in defending at all.”
What started as a promising year of potential premiership contention has now totally unravelled.
Hardwick is cracking under the pressure, throwing in the towel for the season a fortnight ago, while players Mac Andrew and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan have found themselves in hot water for an off-field incident.
Star forward Ben King, who could win the Coleman Medal, will reportedly depart for Hawthorn as a free agent, while young gun Bailey Humphrey is also likely to push his way back to Victoria.
During the Carlton loss, Petracca got into it with young teammate Leo Lombard over a positional mistake during a stoppage. The 2021 Norm Smith medallist berated his teammate, leading to Lombard sending back some profanity his way.
Leo Lombard looks on after a spray from Christian Petracca. Fox Footy
“You probably don’t need to give the young lad three or four serves. You and I have been involved in footy clubs, there have been more robust conversations than that had, but a guy who has played a dozen games probably doesn’t need that,” Bartel said.
Former Essendon coach James Hird believes Petracca needs to show greater leadership in that scenario.
“I don’t think you berate your young players. Berating your teammates in front of everyone like that isn’t good for anyone,” Hird said.
Coming out of the 2010s, and having been plastered to the bottom of the ladder while star players fled for other clubs, the AFL has done everything in its power to make it work on the Gold Coast.
They gave them the No.1 pick in the 2019 draft, which turned into Brownlow Medallist Matt Rowell, gave them unfettered access to build and draft from their academy, which has resulted in nine first-round picks since 2023, extra list spots, a CEO directly from AFL HQ in Mark Evans and then orchestrated three-time Richmond premiership coach Damien Hardwick from Punt Road to Carrara in 2023.
After rising into the top eight for the first time in their history last season, they would have been ready to pop the champagne this year. From the early days of hoping Karmichael Hunt and Gary Ablett could draw some relevancy, finally the Petracca-Hardwick Suns would compete for a premiership.
Instead, they look likely to finish in the bottom four … and will hand that top draft pick to Melbourne thanks to the Petracca trade.
They’ll lose King, and likely Humphrey, with captain Noah Anderson and Rowell both out of contract at the end of 2027.
Suddenly, Gold Coast is back at a similar crossroads. The only difference is the list remains stacked, if they can put it all together.
Hird believes the loss to Carlton summed up where the club is at, particularly given what interim coach Josh Fraser has managed to build at the Blues in just a few months, with far less talent across his list.
He feels Hardwick has not built a cohesive unit with his talented squad.
“I think what Josh Fraser has done with Carlton, he’s created a really selfless team with the forward half stoppage pressure, with his ball movement, with his contest, and the contrast between the selfless nature of Carlton and the selfish nature of the Suns was evident for all to see,” Hird said.
“Early in the fourth quarter, that game could have gone either way.
“The Suns are a team that are either disorganised or not selfless enough.”
Gold Coast will host Melbourne in round 21, before finishing their season with games against GWS, Brisbane and St Kilda.
