A united Gold Coast community bonding together throughout Cyclone Alfred hasn’t gone unnoticed by Senior Coach Damien Hardwick.

The SUNS will finally get its 2025 AFL campaign underway on Sunday evening in Perth, eight days after initially scheduled due to the impacts of recent weather in the region.

On the eve of his second campaign at the SUNS, Hardwick praised the spirit shown across the Gold Coast and hoped a win out west would provide a moment of joy for many doing it tough.

“We’ll be using that as a bit of inspiration for the boys heading into this weekend, the fact that so many Gold Coast people are going through it tough at the moment to try and put on a show for those guys,” Hardwick said.

“That’s the one thing about human nature is we do seem to flock together and help each other out.

“The passing of generations, and litres of milk and bread, and making sure everyone was safe in and around my neighbourhood - I’m sure it happened throughout the Gold Coast and that was really important.

“These sorts of events, those of catastrophic nature, they do bring people together to work to a common cause and I think that’s the one thing we saw. All those that are a part of the clean-up, that’s really important.

“Hopefully, as a footy club, we can go over west and get a win for those people.”

It’ll be a matter of ‘moments’ in Sunday’s season opener against the Eagles according to Hardwick, who says his side are well-prepared.

“We did a lot of work on that over the summer… there’s two things - there’s playing our moments and the execution of those moments.

“It’s going to come down to execution and the ability to play those moments in front of a hostile environment. It’s a great test first up and one we’re looking forward to.”

First bounce for the clash against the Eagles is at 5:10pm AEST at Optus Stadium, with the match broadcast live on Fox Footy, Kayo and the Seven Network (check your local guide).