The Gold Coast SUNS pocketed plenty of learnings from Saturday afternoon’s match simulation at Carrara’s Austworld Oval.
The SUNS took on the GWS Giants across six terms in windy conditions, ultimately falling short by just eight points 3.14 (32) to 5.2 (40).
Gold Coast SUNS AFLW Development Coach Selina Priest took valuable lessons from the game.
“I think our young ones have a lot of learning to do,” Priest said.
“AFL football comes in waves and in games like today where you’ve got to show grit you’ve got to know how to do that and not just feel the flow of the game.”
A host of StreetSmarts SUNS Academy graduates gained invaluable match minutes, deployed for the entire match including Ava Usher and Sunny Lappin worked hand in hand splitting across the midfield and forward territory while Mikayla Nurse (midfield), Alannah Welsh (forward) and Rhianna Ingram (defence) were put to the test in their respective positions.
But it was Bronte Parker who showed promising signs, tallying a number of strong marks on the wing.
“Bronte is improving every single week and gaining confidence coming back from her ACL,” Priest said.
“She’s getting stronger and stronger and definitely stepped up from last week.”
New recruit Paige Price also impressed the SUNS coaches.
“Paige played some good minutes in the ruck today,” Priest added.
“She took her moments and showed more dominance, filling in holes and taking some good marks where she needed to.”
The 2025 VFLW rebel Team of the Year ruckwoman shared the match instilled another bout of confidence in her.
“It felt good to get that first tap to myself and gave me a bit more confidence,” Price said
“While I didn’t really impact individually, in my opinion, as much today as I did last week, I was there for the team which is what I’ve needed to work on.
“I think if I merge the two then I’ll be at my best, so I just need to do that next week.”
Several experienced SUNS showed the young how it’s done, including Clara Fitzpatrick who stood strong in defence alongside Annabel Kievit who was outstanding one-on-one and in the pack across all terms.
Midfield duo Charlie Rowbottom (one goal) and Lucy Single lead the way all day, driving the pill out from a game-high number of tackles between them.
Gold Coast now turn its attention to next Saturday, 25 July to face Carlton at People First Stadium.
The official practice match will be played as per a home and away season game with four 20 minute quarters in addition to time on and will be streamed live via the Gold Coast SUNS website.
Goals
Gold Coast: Havana Harris, Charlie Rowbottom, Nyalli Milne
