It has long been a keen desire of the Gold Coast SUNS to make Metricon Stadium a fortress, and a destination that opposition teams don’t like to visit.

That’s another box that coach Guy McKenna and his team can tick after taking another significant step down the maximum homeground advantage path with a 53-point win over St.Kilda.

Coming on the back of breakout fantastic home wins over Geelong in round 14 and Collingwood in round 16, it was the first time the SUNS have won three in a row at home in the same season. It also gives Gold Coast a 2014 home record bettered only Fremantle, which boasts an imposing 9-1 win/loss record at Patersons Stadium in Perth.

Collingwood, which will play 14 games this season at the MCG, is 8-4 at home.

But Metricon, which has delivered a 7-2 strike-rate for the SUNS, shares third spot on the home win ladder with Port Adelaide, which is 7-2 at its new Adelaide Oval base.

Only Hawthorn and Sydney have visited Metricon this year and won, while Richmond, Brisbane, GWS Giants, Western Bulldogs, Geelong, Collingwood and St.Kilda have gone home without the points.

Home records of other clubs show that Hawthorn are 6-1 at the MCG and 4-0 at their ‘home away from home at Aurora Stadium in Launceston, and Sydney are 6-1 at the SCG and 1-1 at ANZ Stadium.

Geelong are 5-0 at Simonds Stadium and 4-0 at the MCG, Carlton are 5-2 at Etihad Stadium, North Melbourne are 5-3 at Etihad, Adelaide are 5-5 at Adelaide Oval, Essendon are 4-2 at Etihad, West Coast are 4-6 at Patersons, St.Kilda are 4-7 at Etihad, GWS are 3-4 at Spotless Stadium, Brisbane are 3-6 at the Gabba, Melbourne and Richmond are 3-7 at the MCG, and the Western Bulldogs are 3-7 at Etihad.

Saturday night’s win would have been particularly satisfying for coach McKenna after he’d searched every corner of the coaching barrel in a bid to find an appropriate response to a very forgettable loss to Brisbane in round 18.

McKenna had gone back to basics. It was all about team, and each player doing anything and everything to help the team cause. So, he would have been delighted when his playing group posted a significant team-related record when they had no less than 12 different goal-kickers. This was one better than the previous best, recorded against Brisbane in 2011, and the GWS Giants in 2013 and earlier this year.

Jesse Lonergan kicked his first goal and Trent McKenzie his first of 2014 to join Tom Lynch (4), Harley Bennell (2), Alex Sexton (2), Sam Day, Jack Martin, Jaeger O’Meara, Michael Rischitelli, Matt Shaw, Danny Stanley and David Swallow on the goal sheet. And while there will be many other more celebrated statistics, the worth of varied scoring options won’t be lost on McKenna and his coaching staff. It is simply something that makes the team harder to combat.

As McKenna and his troops have been reminded of repeatedly, it was the SUNS’ first win without injured skipper Gary Ablett. More significantly, the club’s equal third-biggest win all-time leaves Jarrod Harbrow as the SUNS ‘winningest player . He’s the only player to have played in each of the club’s 24 wins, and now sits one clear of Ablett, Trent McKenzie and Danny Stanley (23).

Louis Herbert, in his second game, got to sing the SUNS song for the first time to ensure he did not join a list of four players never to play in a winning side for the club. This includes Andrew McQualter (5 games), Nathan Ablett (2), Joel Tippett (2) and Marc Lock (1).
Harbrow, too, has climbed to equal fifth on the all-time wins list at Metricon Stadium. This is a list headed by former Brisbane Bears players, with Scott Mc Ivor (19) and Roger Merrett (19) showing the way from Brad Hardie (18), John Gastev (17) and Mike Richardson (15).

It was a memorable occasion, too, for caretaker captain Tom Lynch. And not just because he celebrated with a win. Lynch’s dominant four-goal effort at centre half- forward, which equalled the SUNS record against St Kilda, bumped his career goals per game average to 1.29 and saw him slip past Ablett (1.26) and Bennell (1.26) to move to the top of the list.

Lynch kicked three goals in the final quarter to become the seventh SUNS player to grab a single-quarter hat-trick. Gary Ablett has done it three times, and Harley Bennell, Sam Day, Dion Prestia, Steven May and Andrew Boston once. Lynch also had two goal assists to take his season total to 19. This equals Ablett’s single-season club record set in 2012, which he had equalled before his season-ending shoulder injury in Round 16.

In other significant statistical facts from Saturday night:

• Jack Martin posted a career-best 17 possessions, including a personal best and equal team-high 11 contested possessions
• The SUNS fielded an equal record six Indigenous players, with the inclusion of Tim Sumner alongside Harley Bennell, Jarrod Harbrow, Sean Lemmens, Jack Martin and Steven May matching the round 1 Indigenous contingent when Brandon Matera played but Bennell missed. With Matera having returned from injury in the reserves last week there could be seven Indigenous players in the SUNS side in Round 20
• Matt Shaw became the fifth SUNS player to top 500 possessions at Metricon behind Gary Ablett (1182), Michael Rischitelli (652), David Swallow (609) and Trent McKenzie (564)
• Steven May, who furthered his All-Australian selection claims with a fine job on St Kilda skipper and Gold Coast product Nick Riewoldt, played 100% of game time for the second time this year. Tom Lynch and Rory Thompson are the only other players to play a full game without getting a spell on the bench in 2014
• Four selection changes heading into the game against St Kilda was a season high. The all-time record for team changes is six, which occurred twice in 2011 and once in 2012
• It was the eighth time this year the SUNS have posted 100 points or more. This is more than in their first three years combined. They reached triple figures twice in 2011, once in 2012 and four times in 2013
• The SUNS’ 12-8 second half was their third-highest single half score all-time, behind the 13-7 first half they kicked against St.Kilda at Etihad Stadium in round 9 this year, and their 12-10 second half against Geelong at Metricon in round 14 this year
• The SUNS’ 32 scoring shots on Saturday night was the club’s third-highest total at Metricon, behind 36 against GWS last year and 34 in round 6 this year