GOLD COAST 9.12 (66) def NORTH MELBOURNE 8.3 (51)
GOLD Coast’s 15-point win over North Melbourne on Saturday night at Metricon Stadium was its fifth win of the season and is now just one win outside the top eight.
Many pondered what Suns officials were on when forecasting that they may be in premiership contention in 2014 but now the football world is seeing some evidence of a team climbing within finals contention and perhaps a whole lot more in years to come.
Led by Gary Ablett and his miraculous ball use in the wet, the Suns had all the answers from the second term onwards against the disappointing Roos, who showed little heart when it was there to be won in the final stanza.
But Suns coach Guy McKenna doesn’t want to start talking about its chances of making the September action just yet.
“We won tonight, but I’m not sure we played four quarters of football, and our goal is to play four quarters of consistent AFL standard football,” McKenna said.
“By doing that, you win games of football and give yourself a chance.
“The end result is the ‘F-word, but we’ve got a long way to go before that, we’ve got a tough game next week against Essendon.”
McKenna said his team is playing plenty of confidence and after five wins, they now have plenty of self-belief.
“Certainly the confidence is coming. I’m sure there was doubts today, three quarters of football was enough in the end but we know against better sides it’s not going to be enough, like we found out against Hawthorn and Geelong,” he said.
“Clearly that wasn’t the way we wanted to start. Given their form line, that was part of the message at quarter-time,” he said.
“We didn’t show composure but after quarter-time we had to roll our sleeves up and get our hands dirty and win the contested footy.
“I thought after quarter-time the boys showed poise, resilience and their ability to run out the game I thought was super.”
Conversely, North Melbourne’s season is in tatters. This is a game that it desperately needed to win and now it is is two games outside the top eight with plenty of soul-searching to do.
Here are the highlights from the game:
GOLD COAST 0.1 5.6 7.7 9.12 (66)
NORTH MELBOURNE 4.2 5.2 6.2 8.3 (51)
GOALS
Gold Coast: Ablett 2, Lynch 2, Russell, Hall, Shaw, Harbrow
North Melbourne: Thomas 2, Petrie 2, Black, Gibson, Wells
BEST
Gold Coast: Ablett, McKenzie, Lynch, Prestia, O’Meara, Harbrow, Murphy
North Melbourne: Gibson, Cunnington, Thompson, Harvey
INJURIES
Gold Coast: Dixon (ankle)
North Melbourne: Nil
SUBSTITUTES
Gold Coast: Jack Hutchins replaced Charlie Dixon in the fourth quarter
North Melbourne: Will Sierakowski replaced Lachie Hansen in the third quarter
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Ryan, Chamberlain, McInerney
Official crowd: 10,891 at Metricon Stadium