Brandon Matera believes Sam Day’s Saturday afternoon performance could be the making of Gold Coast’s former No.3 draft selection. 

“It’s good when you see the tall forwards taking marks so I reckon that was Sammy’s best game,” he said.

“It was a good stand-out match for him, so hopefully he can continue that going into Hawthorn this week.”

Day turned the game on its head on Saturday, kicking three of his four goals in spectacular quarter of football to set up the GC SUNS’ 53-point victory over Brisbane. 

It was a coming of age performance for the 21-year-old key forward, his previous best coming from a three-goal haul against Port Adelaide in round nine of the 2012 Season. 

Equally as impressive was Marcus Ashcroft medallist Gary Ablett, who secured his second best-of-ground honours in the much-anticipated Queensland derby. 

Young defender Steven May would have been forgiven for feeling nervous ahead of his marquee match-up against Lion’s powerhouse Jonathon Brown, but the in-form backman couldn’t have been more impressive in shutting-down one of the game’s greatest forwards. 

He held Brown to just four disposals and zero scoring opportunities, and Matera said the playing group were still celebrating his rising performance. 

“Obviously Gary was unbelievable and May standing tall in defence and kept Brown to just four touches.

“The boys all played well, and I couldn’t pick just one person that didn’t play well. It was a good team effort.”

Matera says the player’s focus now falls squarely on Gold Coast’s round four fixture against Hawthorn at Metricon Stadium this Saturday night.

“We will now sit down and go through Saturday’s game, but will switch pretty quickly on to Hawthorn,” he said.

“It’ll be a good challenge and we’re looking forward to it.

“Hopefully we can challenge Hawthorn for as long as we can.”