The GC SUNS VFL are riding a wave of confidence heading into Saturday night’s Qualifying Final against the Brisbane Lions at Heritage Bank Stadium.
The SUNS secured its first VFL minor premiership and the right to host two home finals on the Gold Coast, beginning this weekend.
That minor premierhip was secured with a comprehensive victory against Carlton in the final round a fortnight ago and VFL Coach Josh Drummond says that performance suggests his side is hitting its stride at the right time.
“Our last game against Carlton was probably our best four-quarter performance of the year so we feel like we’re well on track to produce our best,” Drummond said.
The SUNS will however need a much-improved start from the last time the two sides met. Gold Coast surrendered the first seven goals of that game, before storming home to record a memorable win.
Drummond is aware his side can’t afford to let the Lions get the early jump again.
“For us, we’re not content with giving up multiple scores in a row so there were definitely some lessons learnt from that first 20 minutes,” Drummond added.
“We think our brand stacks up pretty well. You never get it on your terms for four quarters, but we just want to keep chipping away on our principles.
“Brisbane is a quality team. We had a good clash with them here a few weeks ago and we’re expecting nothing less again on Saturday.
Several of the SUNS AFL leaders were on deck at the side’s main training today with the likes of Touk Miller and Sam Collins playing a role in preparing the side for Saturday.
“We talk about team-first footy and the club being one club. It’s awesome having some of the leaders out there helping us get ready for finals,” ‘Frosty’ Miller Medal winner Chris Burgess said.
Burgess secured his second VFL leading goalkicker award with an incredible eight-goal haul in the final round, finishing tied atop the leaderboard alongside teammate Brodie McLaughlin.
The SUNS are comfortably the VFL’s highest scoring side so far in 2023 and boast a smorgasbord of goal kicking threats. Complimenting 51-goal seasons from Burgess and McLaughlin were the likes of Alex Sexton, Sam Day (both 31 goals) and Mabior Chol (30 goals).
It’s that variety of avenues to goal that has Drummond’s side full of confidence heading into its second straight VFL Finals campaign.
“We’re feeling confident in each other. The last couple of games we have played pretty well and hopefully we can bring that form into finals this weekend,” Burgess continued.
“We’ve worked well as a forward line and we’ve been very potent inside forward 50.
Entry to Heritage Bank Stadium on Saturday night is FREE through Gate 1. Complimentary parking is available in the Blue Carpark. Food and beverage outlets will be available, please note there will be no shuttle services operating.
