GOLD COAST 22.14 (146) def GWS GIANTS 9.9 (63)
GOLD Coast’s 83-point win over Greater Western Sydney may have been the biggest win the Suns have ever had but it may be more significant for its skipper Gary Ablett, who after another best on ground performance, is outright favourite for the Brownlow Medal.
It may very well come down to his three-vote performance against the Giants and if it does, you can lock him in.
Suns coach Guy McKenna, however, was concentrating more on his teams’ performance and said that the Suns should have thrashed the Giants – that was expected, he said.
“No disrespect to GWS, but so we should (win strongly). It’s the only club we’re 12 months older than,” McKenna said.
“It’s what we cop every week … we were able to dish out to GWS today. It’s nice to turn the tables.”
“To go from three wins to eight will give the boys some belief,” he said.
“There’ll be a bit of disappointment about the ‘if onlys’ as well. The two-point loss to Brisbane, nine-point loss to Richmond, two 17-point losses away from home (against Port Adelaide and West Coast).
“We just didn’t have that polish, composure. Hopefully we can pick up five or 10 per cent in the pre-season and can win those games.”
Giants coach Kevin Sheedy, in his last game as senior coach, said the Giants have plenty of areas left to improve.
“You look where the Gold Coast are at and it’s very exciting indeed,” Sheedy said.
“They’ve got speed and wonderful ball-handling; they’ll be a very good side in the next three years.
“We need to recruit really well in the next couple of years just to catch up to them, there’s no doubt about that.
“We need three or four really top players.
“We’ve tried to develop the youngest team in the competition.
“We haven’t had an Ablett.
“We’ve got 13 players (injured) and had to go into the depth of the teenage group coming through.”
Here are the match highlights:
GOLD COAST 6.1 12.3 16.7 22.14 (146)
GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY 2.4 5.4 7.8 9.9 (63)
GOALS:
Gold Coast: Ablett 4, Boston 4, Bennell 2, Rishitelli 2, Dixon 2, Harbrow 2, Stanley 2, Prestia 2, Gillbee, Hall, Hunt
Greater Western Sydney: Cameron 2, Sumner, Kennedy, Giles, Tomlinson, Adams, Coniglio, Hampton
BEST:
Gold Coast: Ablett, Stanley, Prestia, Weller, Bennell, Boston
Greater Western Sydney: Adams, Greene, Tomlinson
INJURIES: Nil
SUBSTITUTES:
Gold Coast: Karmichael Hunt on for Joel Wilkinson in the third quarter
Greater Western Sydney: Kristian Jaksch on for James Stewart in the third quarter
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Leppard, Findlay, Mitchell
Official crowd: 13,080