Gold Coast is counting the cost of its win over Yartapuulti in Darwin on Friday night, with three fresh injuries in the past 24 hours.
Coach Damien Hardwick said Jamarra Ugle-Hagan was “heartbroken” to be ruled out on game day with an ankle injury before Will Graham (concussion) and Lachie Weller (hamstring) failed to see out the 25-point victory.
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It was the SUNS’ 10th-straight triumph in the Top End, but the nine-day trip took its toll, with Ethan Read (knee) and Ben Long (ankle) injured in last Saturday's win over Euro-Yroke.
“There are some sore boys,” Hardwick said.
“We’ve got a reasonable injury toll coming out of the two weeks up here. We’ve got some sore lads, so we’ve got to go back and recover.”
Graham was on the wrong end of a huge collision with Aliir Aliir, which saw him fail his concussion test, while Weller pinged his hamstring on what the coach called a “really, really soft” TIO Stadium.
Ugle-Hagan was ruled out before the match following an incident at Gold Coast’s captain’s day 24 hours earlier.
“Jamarra, he’s unlucky that kid,” Hardwick said.
“His last kick at goal, the ground is a little soft, and he rolled his ankle quite significantly, so he was pretty heartbroken today when we had to rule him out.
“He’ll be available to play next week as well. Him and Long are probable.”
Playing with two men down for the entire second half in the stifling conditions drew praise from Hardwick, saying he was “really, really proud” of his team.
The win made it a perfect 10-from-10 for the SUNS since taking home games to Darwin in 2022 courtesy of an agreement with the Northern Territory government.
Despite the success, Hardwick was non-committal on whether they would be back in 2027 as negotiations continued.
“We’re charged with a responsibility of growing the game in south-east Queensland. We’ve also got a responsibility to grow the game up here,” he said.
“Our players love coming up here. We’ve got a large contingent of indigenous players, I think possibly the most in the AFL.
“It’s a fantastic ground and experience for our players. We’d also love to have some more home games in Queensland as well.
“Where that ends up, I’m not too sure.”
