Gary Ablett is now the all-time leading possession winner in AFL matches at Metricon Stadium/Carrara Oval.  The Gold Coast captain’s blistering 41-possession game in Saturday night’s Round 1 home win over Richmond  has taken his career possession tally in 30 games at the venue to 966.  This is precisely equal with the ground record of 966, set by Queenslander Scott McIvor in 41 games during the Brisbane Bears days.

In recent outings Ablett has gone past ex-Bears Mike Richardson (828), David Bain (809) and John Gastev (803) on the all-time Metricon/Carrara possession list.

Astonishingly, Ablett topped the SUNS’ possession count for the 42^nd time in 62 games for the club.  His two goals against the Tigers also saw him jump to equal third on the all-time ground list at 42. He is now two goals clear of Warwick Capper, level with Cameron O’Brien, and behind only Brad Hardie (98) and Roger Merrett (84).

Also last weekend Michael Rischitelli joined the Metricon 500 club when he collected 28 possessions against Richmond to take his ground tally to 506.  He joins Ablett and fellow teammates Jarrod Harbrow (577), Dion Prestia (562), Danny Stanley (543) and Harley Bennell (518) with more than 500 touches at his home ground.

The combined Ablett / Rischitelli milestone came as the SUNS further consolidated their reputation as a team very hard to beat at Metricon.  The 18-point win over the Tigers - which gives them a 3-1 overall head-to-head mark against the 2013 finalists - was their sixth win in their last eight games at Metricon.  It followed wins over GWS Giants (83pts), Melbourne (13pts), Collingwood (7pts), North Melbourne (15pts) and Western Bulldogs (32pt) in the last seven games last year that were split only by losses to Adelaide (28pts) and Carlton (43pts).

The win over Richmond was the Suns’ third in a row at Metricon, equalling the club record set in a similar time block 12 months ago, when a Round 1 win over St Kilda followed two home victories to close out the 2011 season.  For just the sixth time in 67 AFL matches on Saturday night the SUNS led at each change.

There were plenty of other SUNS milestones from the season-opener:

The SUNS’ Round 1 percentage is 126.1 is a club best, surpassing the Round 1 mark last year of 116.9.

David Swallow’s 27 possessions made him the 7^th SUNS player to reach 1000. Now with a career total of 1013, he sits behind Ablett (1976), Danny Stanley (1154), Jarrod Harbrow (1150), Harley Bennell (1107), Dion Prestia (1098) and Trent McKenzie (1015).

Tom Lynch became the 17^th player to reach 500 AFL possessions.

Brandon Matera posted his 10^th SUNS win in his 40^th game, joining a 10-win Club that includes Ablett, Stanley, Harbrow, Bennell, Prestia, McKenzie, Sam Day, Matt Shaw and Jared Brennan.

Ablett and Harbrow remain the only SUNS players to have played in each of the club’s 15 wins.

Greg Broughton and Timmy Sumner, with 24 and 14 possessions respectively against the Tigers, equalled their SUNS best.

Jaeger O’Meara, with his 23^rd game in a row, moved to within one game of the club record for most games from debut, set by Josh Caddy in 2011-12.

Matthew Warnock, back in the side for the first time since Round 4 last year, extended his own club record for most games without a goal to 27.

The vocal crowd of 19,425 was the fifth biggest all-time at Metricon.

Despite the absence of Bennell through injury in Round 1, which denied the Suns an AFL record for the most Indigenous players in one AFL side, there was a club record six Indigenous players in the side that played Richmond – Harbrow, Matera, Steven May, Sumner, and debutants Jack Martin and Sean Lemmens. This topped the previous best of five twice each in 2011 and 2012 when Bennell, Harbrow, Matera, May and Liam Patrick played together.