There’s always something special about going out in style, and although he didn’t know it at the time Sam Day has done exactly that.

On Saturday 6 July 2024, in what turned out to be his 155^th and last game for the Gold Coast SUNS, Day had a career-best six contested marks and a career-best five marks inside forward 50 against North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium.

In 305 SUNS games over 14 years only Charlie Ballard (8) and a young Tom Hickey (7) have had more contested marks, and only Tom Lynch, Levi Casboult, Ben King, Charlie Dixon, Peter Wright, Jack Martin and Josh Corbett have had more marks inside 50.

And Day played only 54% game time before he was forced out of the game with a foot problem.

It was an injury that ended his season and subsequently his career with the SUNS. And it leaves David Swallow as the last ‘survivor’ from the inaugural SUNS playing list in 2011 still at the club.

It’s been an extraordinary ride for a young man from Adelaide who chose football over baseball and basketball after outstanding junior careers in all three sports, rejecting the prospect of US college stints in either sport to throw his hat into the AFL ring.

He’d justified his decision when he won All-Australian selection following the 2010 Under 18 Championships, which were played by eight teams over five rounds in seven states and territories, across two divisions.

West Australia’s Harley Bennell won the Larke Medal as the best player in division one, where the title went to Vic Country, and Tasmania’s Sam Darley, later to play with GWS and the Western Bulldogs, won the Hunter Harrison Medal as his side won division two.

Every member of the All-Australian 22 except one played AFL football, and together they have played 2498 games – with ex-Sun Steven May, Tom Liberatore and Adam Treloar still to feature in this year finals, and go on next year with Brodie Smith.

The A/A team, listed with their AFL game count and clubs to the end of the home-and-away season, was:-

B: Ben Jacobs (90 Port/NM), Matthew Watson (23 Carl), Dyson Heppell (253 Ess)
HB: Shaun Atley (234 NM, Patrick McCarthy (1 Carl),  Brodie Smith (249 Adel)
C: Jared Polec (148 Bris/Port/NM), Mitch Hallahan (27 (Haw/GC), Andrew Gaff (280 WC)
HF: Harley Bennell (88 GC/Frem/Melb), Lucas Cook (DNP), Adam Treloar (253 GWS/Coll/WB)
F: Jayden Pitt (10 Frem), Steven May (285 (GC/Melb), Josh Caddy (173 (GC/Geel/Rich)
R: Daniel Gorringe (26 (GC/Carl), Anthony Miles (88 GWS/Rich/GC), Tom Liberatore (218 WB)
INT: Sam Day (155 GC), Josh Bruce (163 GWS/StK/WB), Josh Green (105 Bris/Ess), Sam Darley (20 GWS/WB).

Day joined the SUNS via pick #3 in the 2010 AFL National Draft behind pick #1 Swallow and pick #2 Harley Bennell in a top 12 which included eight members of his A/A Under-18 side.

He said famously on draft night: “Bright-eyed, bushy teenage kid. Haircut’s not doing much. Great night to have mum and dad around. I just loved the excitement of being picked to the Gold Coast. Fresh new club, exciting times ahead and really excited to be picked. A kid’s dream come true.”

Behind him at #4 in the draft was Andrew Gaff (West Coast), followed by #5 Jared Polec (Brisbane), #6 Reece Conca (Richmond), #7 Josh Caddy (Gold Coast), #7 Dyson Heppell, #9 Dion Prestia (Gold Coast), #10 Daniel Gorringe (Gold Coast), #11 Lynch and #12 Lucas Cook.

Lucas Cook? There’s no shame in not remembering the North Ballarat Rebels youngster named at centre half forward in the 2010 All-Australian Under 18 side. He’s the one who did not play and was delisted after the standard two-year start-up contract.

But otherwise it was a star-studded draft. Of 158 first-time draftees in 2010, Day, who finished with 155 games and 117 goals, was one of 28 who played 150 games and one of 16 who kicked 100 goals.

It was a draft which 14 years on sees West Coast’s Jack Darling head the games list at 298, from Sydney’s Luke Parker (290) and the retired Gaff and Hawthorn/Geelong premiership player Isaac Smith (280).

Darling also leads the goal-kicking with 532 from Lynch at 462. Ex-Sun Charlie Dixon, a Queensland zone selection now at Port Adelaide, is third at 356. And Gaff (7192) heads the possession count from Parker (6764) and Heppell (6064). Parker has polled most Brownlow votes at 152 from Gaff (110) and Heppell (71).

And if they kept statistics for sheer bad luck Day would be a clear leader. By a long way. In numeric terms, while Day played 155 games the club played 305.

It wasn’t bad early. In his first six years he played 98 of a possible 132. His year-by-year game count was 7-15-20-22-14-20 despite a seven-week elbow injury in 2015. It was more than might have been expected for a young key forward at an expansion club,.

At the time he was sixth on the SUNS games list behind Jarrod Harbrow (114), Lynch (102), Michael Rischitelli (100), Matt Shaw (100) and Trent McKenzie (99), and ahead of Gary Ablett (96), Prestia (95), Brandon Matera (91) and May (88). And with  65 goals he was fourth behind only Lynch (190), Ablett (116) and Matera (102).

But it all went horribly wrong on 19 February 2017 in a pre-season game against Brisbane at Broadbeach, when he hyper-extended his leg and badly dislocated his hip.

It was an injury identical to that which ended the career of Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton, and an excruciating blow for a young man on the rise.

The shattered 24-year-old didn’t walk for 50 days until 10 April. It was 153 days until he ran again on 22 July. And 398 days and a change of coach before he played his 99^th AFL game on 24 March 2018 in Stuart Dew’s first game at the helm.

The SUNS won by 16 points in torrential rain in Cairns but the subsequent numbers suggest he was never quite the same after his horrific injury. He played 57 of a possible 177 games from 2017-24, not helped by a nine-week shoulder injury in 2018 with a 10-week knee injury in 2021.

And yet still the always diligent and popular clubman goes out 5^th on the SUNS game list  and 6^th on the goals list. And with a 46-2-107 win/loss record he is 5^th on the win list.

From day one it was a test of character and resilience, especially for an 18-year-old dragged away from family and friends in Adelaide and plonked at a new club on the Gold Coast.

With the key five foundation positions all filled by first-timers – chairman John Witheriff, CEO Travis Auld, football manager Marcus Ashcroft, coach Guy McKenna and captain Gary Ablett -  the most common word was ‘first’. Pretty much everything they did was a first.

But the psychics will tell you Day was destined to play under coach McKenna and captain Ablett. Because on the day he was born McKenna played his 100^th AFL game for West Coast against Hawthorn at Subiaco, and Gary Ablett Snr kicked five goals in a big Geelong win over Footscray at the MCG.

The psychic can claim two out of three –  the same Geelong game was the 100^th AFL game for Robert Scott, father of SUNS Academy product turned North Melbourne 100-gamer Bailey Scott.

Day flew the flag for SANFL club Sturt on the inaugural SUNS playing list with Michael Coad, and has seen three other players from the ‘Double Blues’ wear red and yellow – Jack Hombsch, George Horlin-Smith and current backline star Charlie Ballard.

He debuted in the first Q-Clash in Round 7 2011 at the Gabba, sharing the occasion with Tom Lynch and Joey Daye.  What a start it was! The SUNS led by 27 points at halftime before the home side twice pulled level in the closing minutes.

But goals from Brandon Matera and Liam Patrick got them home as Jared Brennan (30 possessions, 14 clearances and a goal) and Zac Smith (22 possessions and 17 hit-outs) took the Brownlow Medal votes with Brisbane’s Ash McGrath (six goals).  Michael Rischitelli had 29 possessions and 10 tackles and Nathan Krakouer kicked five goals.

His 50^th game against StKilda at Marvel in Round 9 2014 was another win – by 38 points after Ablett put on a clinic with 37 possessions and four goals.

And his 100^th game – his second on the comeback trail – was a 34-point win over Carlton at Marvel Stadium. He was ninth SUNS player to triple figures.

And in Round 22 last year he became the 5^th Sun to 150 games behind Jarrod Harbrow, David Swallow, Alex Sexton and Touk Miller.

But there were plenty of lows. After his debut win he lost the next 18 in 2011-12. There were eight  losses in a row in 2014 and again from 2015-16, and another 18 in a row in a stretch from April 2018 to June 2020 which included a world-wide Covid pandemic.

His best winning streak was the club best five in a row in Rounds 5-6-7-9-10 of 2014, split by a bye. Ablett had 151 possessions, kicked 12 goals and polled 3-3-2-3-0.

Despite playing his first season in jumper #39 Day is the only player to wear #12 at AFL level for the SUNS. Which leads to an odd trivia question … how?

It’s because Gold Coaster Jack Stanlake, brother of Australian international fast bowler Billy Stanlake and himself a first-class cricketer before and after his AFL flirtation, was originally allocated #12. He was one of the club’s early zone selections but didn’t play at AFL level.

It is a measure of the persistence of Day and Swallow that they have shared the SUNS journey with all 149 players who have represented the club, and others who have been listed without playing at senior level.

For Day it’s almost been like two careers – pre-hip dislocation and post-hip dislocation. And for Swallow it’s been the time either side of the broken leg that saw him miss the entire 2016  season. They’ve outlasted the early crop of teammates, and helped steered the way for the second crop with the help of a couple who crossed the ‘injury’ timeline.

So who has played most of Day’s 155 games with him?

It’s not Swallow. He is second on the list at 112 behind long-time games record-holder Jarrod Harbrow at 115. Then it’s Michael Rischitelli (90), Lynch (89), Touk Miller (85) and Matt Shaw 79, before those who shared less than half of the Day game - May (76), Rory Thompson (73), Ablett (72) and Trent McKenzie (71).

Will Powell (69) and Alex Sexton (63) head the other current players, before the list gets to those who shared less than a third of the Day games -  Jarrod Witts (51), Charlie Ballard (48), Ben Ainsworth (46), Jack Lukosius (43) and Lachie Weller (42).

Individual highlights? He kicked four goals in a game three times – in the 2014 home Q-Clash win over the Lions by 53 points, the unforgettable 2016 home win over Collingwood by five points, when he kicked the SUNS last goal and polled two Brownlow votes, and in a 2016 home win over Fremantle by 24 points, when he polled one vote.

He also polled two votes in the 44-point home win over West Coast during the 2020 Covid season, when he played every game to replicate his full season of 2014.

He played 68 games at People First Stadium and spread his 155 games over 18 different venues – PFS, Gabba, Cairns, Townsville, SCG, Sydney Showgrounds, MCG, Marvel Stadium, Geelong, Ballarat, Hobart, Launceston, Darwin, Canberra, Adelaide Oval and Football Park, Subiaco and Perth Stadium.

His biggest crowd was the SUNS’ biggest – 51,774 against West Coach at Perth Stadium in 2018.

He had a win against every opposition club except Hawthorn, going 0-8 against the Hawks, and had most wins against North (7) and Brisbane (5).

His biggest win was in the club’s second-biggest win – an 83-point triumph over GWS in his 42^nd game at PFS in 2013. And his biggest loss was the club’s third-biggest loss – by126 points against West Coast in his 18^th game at Subiaco in 2012.

He’s kicked the SUNS first goal in a game 13 times – behind only Lynch (25) and King (18) and equal with Ablett (13) – and will forever sit in the record books having kicked the club’s first goal ever at Perth Stadium in 2018 and Ballarat in 2019.

And he’ll forever be remembered as player #32 and life member #13 of the Gold Coast SUNS.