A dominant performance by the Gold Coast SUNS over North Melbourne saw the SUNS secure at 14.13 (97) to 7.12 (54) victory at home. 

SUNS Senior Coach Stuart Dew was pleased with the response from his side, seeing a lot more composure from the team and passages of play they’ve been training coming to fruition. 

“A lot of what we say flowed on from last week. At different times, North tried to wrestle control of the game, but I feel we were a little bit better, a bit more composed,” Dew said. 

“It’s a game we expected to win, but as we do for every game, you need to front up. We were able to pick ourselves up from a disappointing game last week.

“Our training quality’s been really good and the faith we had in the group from last week, they repaid that.

“I think we played really connected footy and they’re on the same page. Execution at times let us down, but I think that if we can see the method and intent, we can continue to work on the execution.”

Full-forward Ben King played his sixth game after returning from a ruptured ACL, and led the scoring with five goals. 

Dew said it was fantastic to see King get the rewards his work deserves.

“I think he has been building … we’re lucky enough to see his process and his effort throughout his time at the footy club, so we’re not surprised that he’s continued to present,” Dew said. 

“I thought he physically gave us a great contest in the air as well. Even when he didn’t mark it, he brought it to ground, brought others into the game, and I guess that’s something he hasn’t been far off on those games for a couple of weeks.

Captain Jarrod Witts returned to AFL action after missing two weeks with soreness and capped off a welcome return with a goal. 

“It’s great to have him back for the presence he has leadership wise and then being able to share the load amongst the taller players,” Dew added.

“He had a strong week of training, we set the bar really high and he was able to train unimpeded, so that’s why we selected him.”