Gary Ablett inspires SUNS in big win over Kangaroos
Courier Mail
Greg Davis
Divine intervention delivered the Gary Ablett-led Gold Coast a stunning upset win over North Melbourne at Metricon Stadium on Saturday night.
After a week from hell, the return of Ablett inspired the SUNS to an unlikely 55-point thrashing of the Kangaroos to provide some temporary relief from the drug crisis that engulfed the club in the past seven days.
Ablett was making his long awaited comeback after 12 weeks on the sidelines with a shoulder injury. It had been 12 months since he first hurt his left shoulder. But it was almost like he never left.
In his second-coming for 2015, Ablett had 31 possessions, three goals, seven inside 50s and 11 clearances to help the SUNS off the bottom of the ladder.
He was not best-on-ground but his sheer presence and undoubted class made the SUNS all walk taller as they ran the flat and fumbly Roos off their feet and forced them into errors.
Skipper back and the SUNS burn North
The Age
Andrew Stafford
The SUNS – just one win to their name, on the front pages instead of the back for the wrong reasons – didn't have a hope going into this match. How quickly things can turn.
Charlie Dixon, the hulking forward with ankle issues who is being chased hard by the Brisbane Lions, finished with seven goals in a dominant performance as the SUNS first crept, then sprinted to an eventual 55-point hammering of the Roos.
Who would have thought the SUNS were even capable of kicking 19 goals going into this game? They were buoyed, of course, by the return of their captain/talisman Gary Ablett: niggled and bumped to distraction by Ben Jacobs, far from his best, but present all the same.
So too, almost as importantly, was David Swallow, who laid six tackles in the first half and whose influence on the contest grew the longer the game went.
SUNS down dismal Roos for second win of the year
AAP
Vince Rugari
The return of Gary Ablett has helped spark Gold Coast to its second win of the season, a 55-point triumph over North Melbourne.
Almost a year to the day of his season-ending shoulder injury last year, the superstar SUNS skipper provided a timely reminder of what his side had been missing in the 19.11 (125) to 10.10 (70) victory on Saturday at Metricon Stadium.
Ablett finished with a team-high 31 disposals, but it was his sheer presence that inspired his teammates to rise to another level after a horrific week for both club and code.
Previously rudderless without Ablett and barely competitive in weeks gone by, it felt like a return to the SUNS of old.
The dual Brownlow medallist also kicked three majors and his influence on the contest grew as the likes of best-on-ground Kade Kolodjashnij (28) and Michael Rischitelli (28) rallied around him.
