The Gold Coast SUNS are determined to atone for their lack of efficiency going inside forward 50 in their pre-season win over Essendon, with it being a major focus point for the team’s coaches and midfielders over recent days.
The SUNS had 59 inside 50s against the Bombers but could only manage 12 goals for the game and will be looking to improve on that conversion rate against the Western Bulldogs at Metricon Stadium this Thursday.
“We’ve done a lot of edits on it over the last 2-3 days, over the weekend as well,” SUNS leader Touk Miller told reporters on Monday.
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“We’ve been looking at our entries inside 50. We did have close to 60 (inside 50s) which is pretty high numbers for the amount of game time we had, but going forward we expect to have exactly the same numbers, getting a lot of inside 50s but we’ve got to be more efficient going inside.”
Gold Coast were without All Australian forward Tom Lynch in Mackay, leaving Peter Wright as the only tall target in attack.
But regardless of the potency of their attack, the SUNS want to be unpredictable when it comes to inside 50 entries, looking for the best option every time whether that be lowering the eyes to find a short option or kicking long.
However Miller is quick to admit the addition of Lynch and dual Brownlow medallist Gary Ablett to the line-up will be more than handy against the reigning premiers.
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“We want to mix it up,” Miller said.
“I think we’ve been trying different strategies so if that’s not hitting up short targets then hitting long targets that’s the plan, that’s best option footy.”
“It’s always handy having the best forward in the game coming back into your squad, and also the best midfielder. So that’s pretty handy.”