Why the Suns are ready for the next step

It is no secret that the Gold Coast Suns have had good starts in previous seasons, but something feels different this time around.

The Suns are not looking for classy defeats or to scrap up a small victory. The Suns are here to not only compete, but win.

Senior coach Stuart Dew emphasised this weeks ago after defeating premiership contenders West Coast.

“Our time is now… we’re here to win and get four points like every other team.”

“We aren’t here to make up the numbers anymore”

This newfound sense of belief is nothing new to the Gold Coast football club. Several coaches and players, since the arrival of Dew have emphasised the turn around the club has had.

The reinvigoration of the club was founded on that back of chairman Tony Cochrane. Hiring CEO Mark Evans in the early part of 2017 and Dew in the same year, it was clear that the Suns wanted to improve from the top, all the way down.

Although these new leaders of the club were accompanied by hope, it was still a year to forget when the Suns finished with only six wins and a bottom two finish in the 2017 season.

However, along with a new year, came massive additions. The 2018 draft was Dew’s first real opportunity to add to his idea of a successful list. That is exactly what he did when he added top picks Jack Lukosius, Izak Rankine and Ben King to the club.

After a year of exciting flashes from all three of the impressive young men, the three conglomerated alongside several other young Suns to re-sign with the club.

Not only reaffirming the strong bond the group has, but also sending the message to the AFL world that the belief inside the club is that success is imminent.

Then, a young man by the name of Matthew Rowell would enter the club in 2019 and by 2020, change the entire perception of the direction of the club.

Not only was he drafted alongside his best mate Noah Anderson, the two were added alongside talents like Sam Flanders, Jeremy Sharp, Connor Budarick and Malcolm Rosas Jnr.

With this young core from the 2018 and 2019 draft, accompanied by the more experienced players added to his list in the last trade period, Dew feels their time is now and has sent AFL clubs a warning that the new look Suns are no longer a pushover.

Winning 3 out of their first 4 games convincingly, on the back of impressive performances from that young core, the Suns are doing something they have struggled to do for years, and that is to dominate games for four quarters.

In a year where anything can happen like that of 2020, there truly is nothing stopping this group from pushing their first ever finals appearance and perhaps even going deep in that push.