SUNS midfielder Brayden Fiorini has vowed to bring the same level of intent and consistency to his football each week after an impressive performance against St Kilda in Round 1.
The 21-year-old was arguably Gold Coast’s best player in the tense final quarter against St Kilda on Sunday and helped bring his team agonisingly close to a victory.
Despite the hard-to-swallow loss, Fiorini said he had full confidence in his teammates after a hearty performance.
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“Obviously (we were) down a couple of goals at half time and then to win the second half I was really proud of the boys,” Fiorini told SUNS Media.
“There were a lot of 50-50 efforts and it was real promising signs from the boys so we’ll take a lot of confidence going into next week.”
Fiorini had 30 disposals in the match, with 13 of those contested and at an efficiency of 70%.
He also had two goal assists, including a crucial one in the first quarter to set Chris Burgess up to kick his first AFL goal.
After going in to the first break with a lead, the SUNS let in some late scores in the second term to be two goals adrift heading into the final quarter.
But Fiorini said Senior Coach Stuart Dew never let the group believe the win was out of reach.
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“(Dew said) it might take the whole game to get in front or it might be the last minute of the game where a big moment happens and we get in front and win that way,” he said.
“The messaging stayed the same the whole game and it was just how big our pre-season had been and we’ll just try to run over the top of them.
“I thought we did have them on the back foot in the last quarter, but one point, we couldn’t get over the line in the end.”
While the one-point loss was hard to take, Fiorini said the group would pick themselves back up and give it everything again this weekend at Metricon Stadium.
“Last year we had a lot of ups and downs so it was good to have a four quarter performance or close to it,” he said.
“We won three of the four quarters so that was a real positive sign and we’ll look to win four quarters next week.”