Jy Farrar will end 713 days in the “what next?” zone today as the SUNS look to do what they’ve done 11 times before, turn a 10-goal loss one week into a win the next.
Farrar, recalled for QClash 29 against the Brisbane Lions at People First Stadium from 1.20pm, hasn’t played at AFL level since Round 22, 2023.
His 35th AFL game and his first under coach Damien Hardwick will be in a side that is barely recognisable from that which lost by four goals to Sydney under Steven King in his 34th game.
Only nine teammates from that day will play this afternoon - Noah Anderson, Ben Ainsworth, Mac Andrew, Sam Collins, Sam Flanders, Nick Holman, Bailey Humphrey, Matt Rowell and Jarrod Witts.
Missing are Touk Miller and Charlie Ballard (injured), David Swallow, Sean Lemmens and Malcom Rosas Jnr (not selected), Rory Atkins and Jack Lukosius (Port Adelaide), Levi Casboult, Brandon Ellis and Darcy Macpherson (retired), Sam Day (Brisbane), Elijah Holland (Carlton) and development coach James Tsitas (delisted).
Rowell and Anderson, on consecutive game streaks of 96 and 77, have not missed a game while Farrar has wondered when his next chance would come.
Only four SUNS players have spent longer between games for the club than Farrar, who is the only player to wear jumper #50 for the SUNS and, with 34 games in #50, is sixth all-time in AFL history.
Ahead of him are North Melbourne/Melbourne forward Ben Brown (175), West Coast’s Ryan Turnbull (129), Richmond’s Marlion Pickett (91), Western Bulldogs and GWS Queenslander Sam Reid (84) and St.Kilda Hall of Famer and World War Two veteran Des Nisbet (68).
Technically, Zac Smith heads the list at 2117 days between his 65th Suns game in Round 23 2015 and his 66th Suns game in Round 10 2021. But he spent 2016 - 2019 at Geelong. Exclude those years out and he’d be 656 days between games, having returned to the club for the Covid season of 2020 without playing at AFL level.
The ‘real’ highwater mark is Rory Thompson’s 1379 days between his 103rd game in Round 19 2018 and his 104th game in Round 8 2022.
Tom Nicholls was 749 games between his first AFL game in 2011 and his 2nd game in 2013, and Josh Hall, 357 days between his 2nd game in 2012 and his 3rd game in 2013, had to wait 729 days between his 5th game in 2013 and his 6th game in 2015.
Chris Burgess also had two long waits. He was 587 days between his 14th game in 2019 and his 15th game in 2021, and 426 days between his 35th game in 2022 and his 36th and last game in 2024.
Andrew Boston (636), Jack Hutchins (634) and David Swallow (630) also waited more than 500 days between games, while Caleb Graham is sitting on a ‘live’ 1071-day stretch. He hasn’t played at AFL level since Round 23, 2022.
But Graham can take solace from the persistence of Farrar and Connor Budarick, who, still only 47 games into his career, had waits of 393 days and 413 days early in his career.
The SUNS, looking to bounce back from a 61-point loss to Adelaide at Adelaide Oval and the first goalless first half in club history last week, need only look through the club records to find confidence.
They have won 11 times coming off a 10-goal loss, and a further six times coming off a 50-point loss.
Not significantly, too, 10 of those 17 bounce-back wins have been at People First Stadium, and three were in the QClash in 2011, 2015 and 2018.
Twice last year the SUNS pulled off a major turnaround to win in Hardwick’s first year in charge. In Round 6, they beat West Coast at home by 37 points after a 53-point loss to Sydney at the SCG, and in Round 24 they bounced back from a 54-point home loss to Melbourne to beat Richmond by 28 points at the MCG.
Also, the SUNS’ first two wins – and two of the club’s most famous wins – were on the rebound.
Their very first win over Port Adelaide by three points at Football Park in Round 5 2011 came on the back of a 90-point hiding from Melbourne at the Gabba, and their eight-point win in Q-Clash #1 at the Gabba a fortnight later followed a whopping 139-point loss to Essendon at Marvel.
Oscar Adams and Leo Lombard will play their first QClashes, while Alex Davies, set for his first game of the season, will be chasing his first QClash win with Budarick, Joel Jeffrey, Ben Long, John Noble, Ethan Read and Bodhi Uwland.
Ben Ainsworth will play his 16th Q-Clash to move to outright fourth on the SUNS QClash games list behind Swallow (23), Miller (17) and Jarrod Harbrow (17). Making up the top 10 are Lemmens (15), Sam Day (15), Michael Rischitelli (13) and Steven May (13), Tom Lynch (12) and Alex Sexton (12).
Brayden Fiorini holds the SUNS possession record in a QClash at 41 in Round 19 in 2019, while Charlie Dixon’s six goals in Round 5 2015 is the biggest goals haul for the club in a QClash.
