In the euphoric chaos that was the Gold Coast SUNS dressing room post-game on Friday night Jarrod Witts told of nine words from Noah Anderson that clinched arguably the best century in Australian sport since Steve Waugh in 2003.

The 100^th win in SUNS history – and arguably the best – was secured after Witts crafted an exquisite ruck tap to an on-the-fly Anderson at the centre bounce 17 minutes into the final quarter of the blockbuster clash with Collingwood at People First Stadium.

Anderson burst out of the centre, worked a slick one-two handball exchange with Lachie Weller, ran inside 50m and screwed a running shot across his body for the match-winner.

Witts, playing against his former club, told Fox Footy post-game how Anderson had said to him “if you can get it there I’ll be open” as they set up after Ben Long had levelled the scores, converting from a free kick in a marking a contest after Anderson had won another centre clearance.

The twin goals in a pulsating 60 seconds prompted Anderson, for the first time in his career, to run towards the fence and celebrate with ecstatic SUNS fans in a moment that will long be remembered.

“That’s what great captains do,” said ex-Brisbane skipper Jonathan Brown in commentary, referring to Anderson’s match-changing heroics rather than his celebrations while suggesting the first-year SUNS captain should be ‘in the conversation’ for the 2025 All-Australian captaincy.

The legendary Leigh Matthews described the win as “a great step forward in the build of the SUNS team” after they’d steadied superbly in the closing minutes to turn back a fearsome Collingwood charge.

In 20 years, SUNS stalwarts could well be saying ‘do you remember the first Friday night game at home when we beat Collingwood?’ just as cricket fans do now when they reflect on a majestic moment at the SCG in the 2003 Ashes series.

In one of the great milestone innings, Aussie captain Steve Waugh, under pressure for his place in the Australian side at 37, hit the last ball of the day from English off-spinner Richard Dawson for four to post his 29^th Test century.

Playing his 156^th Test to equal the world record of Allan Border, Waugh had earlier in the day become the third player to 10,000 Test runs after Border and Indian great Sunil Gavaskar.

Dawson, playing the last of his seven Tests for England, fired a quicker ball just wide of off stump. Waugh rocked forward and punched it to the extra cover boundary as the great Bill Lawry said in commentary as only he could do “he’s gone for it … there it is … a great moment in the history of Australian Test cricket.”

So it was as Waugh posted his 29^th Test century to equal the record of the incomparable Sir Donald Bradman.

And while Anderson hasn’t quite reached Waugh standards (yet), and Round 18 of an AFL season isn’t quite the last Test of an Ashes series, this was a comparable moment in SUNS history.

It was the first time in 321 games the SUNS have beaten the side sitting on top of the ladder.

Indeed, in 99 wins the club had only beaten a side in the top four 12 times, including Adelaide and Hawthorn earlier this year.

But none of those wins compare with Friday night, when the SUNS held the Pies goalless until nine minutes before three-quarter time, marking their first goalless first half since 2021, before conceding nine of the next 10 goals to fall three points behind.

Showing a new-found maturity that is becoming a trademark of the ‘new’ SUNS under Damien Hardwick, they steadied magnificently to kick the last two goals and win 10.9 (69) to 8.15 (63). All after losing Touk Miller to a hamstring injury in the second term after he’d started in brilliant fashion.

Jason Dunstall suggested in commentary the fact that the SUNS found a way to win after being challenged so strongly by the rampaging Pies, who had come into the game on an eight-game winning streak, was better than if they’d led all the way.

“It’s a supreme win that will give them enormous confidence,” said the ever-astute Dunstall.

The SUNS’ 11^th win of the year equals the club-best 11 wins of last year and has them two wins ahead of their previous best record at Round 18, set last year and in 2014.

They are now fifth on the AFL ladder with a game in hand, having not previously been higher than 10^th at this point of the season.

Indeed, their Round 18 ladder position through 14 years in the AFL from 2011-24 has been 16-17-14-10-17-15-15-17-18-14-14-12-13-11, remembering that in the Covid campaign of 2020 Round 18 was the end of the home-and-away season.

Ironically, Port Adelaide, who were the SUNS first AFL victims at Football Park in Round 5 2011, sit at the bottom of the club’s overall win list which has North Melbourne (12) on top from Richmond (8), West Coast, Hawthorn, Carlton and Brisbane (7), St Kilda (6), Essendon, Fremantle, Sydney, Western Bulldogs, GWS, Melbourne, Adelaide and Collingwood (5), Geelong (4) and Port Adelaide (2).

While it might seem like it’s been a long wait for the SUNS to reach 100 wins, it’s nothing compared to three of their predecessors. Hawthorn and North Melbourne, who joined the competition in 1925, waited 470 games and 389 games respectively, and St Kilda, foundation members of the then VFL in 1897, lost their first 48 games and were 376 games to 100 wins.

The SUNS, now with a 56-82 record at PFS, have had more than half of their wins at home, and have split the other 44 wins across Marvel Stadium (12), TIO Stadium (8), MCG (6), SCG (4), Gabba (3), Optus Stadium (3), Cazaly’s Stadium in Cairns (3), Ballarat’s Mars Stadium (1), AAMI Stadium (1), Manuka Oval (1), Subiaco (1) and Barossa Park (1).

Friday night’s 100^th win was Anderson’s 50^th as he became the ninth player to his half-century. David Swallow (75) heads the individual win count from Miller (66), Witts (56), Alex Sexton (55), Sam Collins (54), Ben Ainsworth (54), Wil Powell (51) and Nick Holman (51) and Anderson (50).

It was a special win, too, for John Noble, who had 30 possessions and a game-high 662m gained in his first game against his former club. Likewise Jed Walter, Ethan Read and second-gamer Oscar Adams, who played against Collingwood for the first time, and Brayden Fiorini and Connor Budarick, who enjoyed their first win against the 2023 premiers in their sixth and third game against them respectively.

But for all that it will be a huge surprise if the three Brownlow Medal votes don’t go to Matt Rowell, who in his 101^st game after a week in the media spotlight, had 31 possessions, 18 contested possessions,13 tackles, 12 clearances and nine inside 50s – all game-high.

His ‘triple double’ in possessions, tackles and clearances in a typically bullocking performance was his third in five games and just the 12^th in club history. The big #18 has joined Hugh Greenwood and Touk Miller with three ‘TD’s’, while Gary Ablett Jnr had two and Mitch Hallahan one.