The Gold Coast SUNS are the only remaining unbeaten team in the NEAFL Northern Conference after a 16 point win over the Brisbane Lions at Yeronga on Saturday.
After a close first quarter, the SUNS played some brilliant football in the second and third quarters to set up a match winning 28 point lead at three quarter time.
With Michael Coad and Jaeger O’Meara missing from the bench in the last quarter, the Lions made a late charge at the SUNS, but the SUNS held on for a well deserved 14.9 (93) to 11.11 (77) victory, making it five wins on end to start the season.
SUNS NEAFL coach Shaun Hart was thrilled with the performance.
“Really good effort I thought, especially after quarter time,” he said.
“The first quarter was pretty good, but we just allowed Brisbane back in late (in the quarter).
“The second and third quarter was some of the best football we have played this year as a team.”
“We probably ran out of legs a little bit in the last quarter, because of O’Meara and Coad being off the ground for the whole quarter but I thought the final effort was pretty good as well to keep a hold of the lead.
“We really deserved to win it and it is a credit to the whole footy team that they playing consistently well.
It was an extremely physical contest with the Lions, which only added to the significance of the win according to Hart.
“The small ground (at Yeronga) made it a real contest,” he said.
“To come into a tight environment against a better opposition and to compete just as well, maybe even a bit better this week was a real sign that our guys are maturing at both parts of the game whether its on the outside and the inside.”
When asked about the injuries to O’Meara and Coad, Hart explained there was relief at O’Meara’s prognosis, and more precautionary for Coad
“Jaeger was fantastic up to half time. Early in the third quarter he copped an innocuous knee in a ground ball contest. It was thought initially he might have fractured one of the vertebrae in his back, but he was given all clear after he had some x-rays.
“Michael Coad is getting to the stage where he has played plenty of footy coming back from some serious hamstring injuries. He had a bit of a tight leg, around the Achilles area, so we decided to put him on ice for the rest of the game.
One player who has been in superb form for the SUNS this season is Kyal Horsley, who continued that stellar form against the Lions.
“He has literally been in the best three players every week, and just continues to get possessions. Brisbane had to try and tag him for a majority of the game because he was just so dominant early on,” said Hart.
The Lions match marked the return of Rory Thompson from a long injury layoff, and Hart was delighted with his comeback.
“Rory was terrific. He was a bit slow to get going as you can imagine, back from so long and an operation,” he said.
“After probably quarter time he started to see the footy a bit more and get involved and in the second half he played up forward and showed his footy smarts, and got on the scoreboard.”
Another SUN to impress was Charlie Dixon, who is doing everything he can to force his way into the senior side.
“Charlie Dixon played his best game for the year and starting to look like he is taking a few lessons on board and really playing the role as a tall forward and tall ruckman better than he has in the first few weeks of the season,” said Hart.
The SUNS will take on second place Labrador (4 wins, 1 loss) at Cooke Murphy Oval, Labrador on Saturday at 1:30pm, and Hart is looking forward to the contest.
“They are in very good form. Our boys won well there last year, after we were down seven goals to two at quarter time,” he said.
“They are a good side out of the blocks, but I am confident with the sort of football our boys are playing we can be right in the contest and serve it right up to Labrador.”
GOLD COAST SUNS 4.2 9.4 12.7 14.9 (93)
BRISBANE LIONS 3.2 5.5 7.9 11.11 (77)
GOALS: Dixon 3, Weller 2, Patrick 2, Magin 2, O’Meara, Moss, J.Taylor, Horsley, Thompson 1.
BEST: Dixon, Hine, Horsley, Wilkinson, Weller, Thompson, Magin.
