Gold Coast NEAFL Coach Nick Malceski said that the team’s attitude and appetite for the contest played a big part in their drought-breaking win against the Swans.

The nine-point victory at Fankhauser Reserve was a reward for their effort over four quarters. 

“Five years and 13 games and we haven’t beaten them, and I think the average losing margin was 64 points,” Malceksi told SUNS TV. 

“I reminded the boys of that before the game and they were hungry to win, so it was nice to get the win over them.”

Having been beaten in the contested footy stakes the week prior, the SUNS were keen to rectify that and get back to playing to their strengths.

It wasn’t going to be easy coming up against another physical side in the Swans, but Malceksi was pleased with his side’s response.

A strong midfield unit was key with Aaron Hall, Jacob Dawson and the returning Will Brodie all playing their roles well.

“It’s one of the things we really focus on going into games, just winning the contested footy, and we were able to do that on the weekend,

“I think we won plus 12 against Sydney who pride themselves in that area as well, pleasing enough I think we also had a 100+ possessions more, 

“We also evened the tackle count so we’re still getting our tackles in and winning the hard ball. 

The youngsters continue to impress at NEAFL, with ruckman Brayden Crossley spending most his time in the ruck against a number of opponents.

Dawson showed that he is willing to play whatever role is required of him, while Ballard was effective playing in the forward line.

“Crossley was a bit one out in the ruck – we’ve only got him as the ruckman at the moment – so he did pretty well against (Aliir) Aliir, Darcy Cameron and (Joel) Amartey so he had his hands full and he battled away really hard,

“Charlie Ballard played forward was clunking a few up there so he’s continued his form and Dawson played a really selfless role when he went to Rose in the second half and was able to shut him out.”