Was Saturday’s heart-stopping one-point win over the Adelaide Crows at People First Stadium the best in Gold Coast SUNS history?

Recency bias says of course and it’s certainly right up there. Everyone will have their special memories, but undeniably the 13.13 (91) to 14.6 (90) nail-biter against the previously unbeaten Crows was a statement win SUNS fans will never forget.

It was the SUNS’ third one-point win all-time and the first in front of a home crowd.

It’s the second time in club history the SUNS have won the first three games of a season and the first time since 2016.

So, after four rounds this year the SUNS sit third on the ladder, behind 4-0 Hawthorn and Brisbane, with a league-high percentage of 172.6%.

But, in a statistic that will surprise many, their ladder position is not a club best at Round 4.

In the 2020 Covid season the SUNS lost their first game to Port Adelaide by 47 points, but, after the season was put on hold for 84 days they beat West Coast by 44 points, Adelaide by 53 points and Fremantle by 13 points – all at People First Stadium – to sit 2^nd with a percentage of 131.2%.

Still, Damien Hardwick will be more than happy with third after in previous seasons at the same point the SUNS have been 17^th-17^th-14^th-11^th-17^th-5^th-9^th- 14^th-6^th-2^nd-13^th-9^th17th-10^th.

It was the SUNS’ third one-point win in 308 games, with five players having played in all three – Sam Collins, Sam Flanders, Ben King, Wil Powell and Matt Rowell. 

And, on a statistics sheet highlighted by Daniel Rioli’s equal team-high 26 possessions with a 92.3% disposal efficiency, Rowell’s 10 score involvements, and Jed Walter’s first three-goal haul, Ben Ainsworth had an equal club record five assists.

This matched the club-best set by Jack Lukosius against Geelong in Darwin last year and equalled by Bailey Humphrey in the first game of this year against West Coast in Perth.

It was an extra special performance in a game in which each goal was critical as Ben Ainsworth had as many goal assists as the rest of the SUNS players combined.

The SUNS’ other one-point wins have been:

Round 17 2021 – The SUNS came from 13 points down at three-quarter time to beat GWS Giants by a point in Ballarat – 10.5 (65) to 9.10 (64).

Sitting 14^th on the ladder against the 8^th-placed Giants and coming off a 10-point win over Richmond at Marvel Stadium, they were still 11 points inside the last four minutes.

It was an epic finish. With 3:43 on the clock Rowell, in just his 11^th game after two extended injury layoffs, grabbed an errant handpass from the Giants’ Isaac Cumming and threw it immediately on the boot from 35m. It landed in the goal square and although it bounced up rather than forward it did just enough to clear the line.

The SUNS went forward again. Nick Holman gathered a loose ball and went by hand to Touk Miller, who sent Sean Lemmens running towards the 50m arc. He kicked to the edge of the square when the ball fell off hands to David Swallow.

SUNS fans dropped their head when Swallow’s grubber kick clipped the post but the umpire ruled he’d been pushed in the back by Cumming. From the top of the square he made no mistake with his second kick.

There was still 2:40 on the clock, and twice GWS had a chance to win it. First, Brent Daniels went short inside 50m looking for a teammate but instead picked out the SUNS’ Jack Bowes. Inexplicably, Bowes kicked it out on the full.

It quickly came back, and when Phil Davis chipped hopefully into the path of two Giants running towards goal alarm bells were ringing in the SUNS camp again. It would have been perfect had Bowes not been standing in the way, and just as he punched the ball clear the final siren went.

Miller, with 35 possessions, two goals, 14 tackles and 11 clearances, was clearly best afield and suitably rewarded with three Brownlow Medal votes, while GWS’ Jacob Hopper earned two votes for 41 possessions, and the SUNS’ Charlie Ballard picked up one vote for 19 possessions, nine marks.

It wasn’t a day Hugh Greenwood, back at the club this year as a development coach, will remember fondly. He was out of the game inside five minutes amid fears he’d done his ACL, and although scans cleared him of the need for a reconstruction it turned out to be his last game in red and yellow.

Round 22 2024 – The SUNS, 13^th on the ladder at 9-11, were playing for pride as they visited Marvel Stadium to take on an Essendon outfit half a game outside the top eight.

The visitors were 11 points down at halftime but four points up at the last change after two goals late in the third term from Jed Walter. It was 11-9 to 11-5.

In an extraordinary final term, Essendon had 10 scoring shots to the Gold Coast’s two – and lost.

The home side kicked 1-4 in the first 10 minutes of the final stanza, with second-gamer Archie Roberts putting his side three points up with his first AFL goal.

Then the Bombers kicked three behinds to make the difference six points before a brilliant tackle from Ben Long on Jayden Laverde forced the ball loose. It fell to Sam Flanders, who dribbled it through from 12m. Scores were level but there were still 18 minutes to play.

Essendon added five behinds, and five minutes from the final siren they were five points up.

As the seconds ticked down Sam Collins bombed it long inside the SUNS forward 50m zone. Mac Andrew emerged from a giant pack and literally floated through the air before pulling down the biggest mark of his career.

He kicked after the siren from 20m virtually straight in front and made no mistake. The SUNS won 13-9 (87) to 12-14 (86), with Rowell collecting three Brownlow Medal votes for 32 possessions (20 contested), seven tackles and nine clearances.

Andrew, in his 39^th game, doubled his career goal tally with four a month before signing a long-term contract extension set to see him finish his career on the Gold Coast.

Seventeen of the players who savored the one-point win over Essendon backed up against the Crows on Saturday, with Ben Ainsworth, Joel Jeffrey, Miller, Noble, Ethan Read and Rioli in for Charlie Ballard, Alex Davies, Nick Holman, Lemmens, Alex Sexton and Swallow.

Overall, the SUNS have played 34 games in which the final margin has been six point or less either way. They’ve played two draws, and, in addition to three one-point wins, have won by two points four times, by three points four times, by five points three times, and by six points once.

In narrow losses, they’ve been beaten twice by a point, five times by two points, twice by three points, five times by four points, three points by five points and once by six points.