The Gold Coast SUNS have pulled off a 92-point win over Redland on a sunny Sunday afternoon at Tidbold Park.
The visitors had strong performers all over the park, but were led by skipper Keegan Brooksby (23 disposals, 20 hit-outs, four goals), Darcy Macpherson (21 disposals, eight marks, four goals) and Mitch Hallahan (30 disposals, two goals) on the way to the 9.6 (60) to 23.14 (152) victory.
Gold Coast got off to a flyer with the first five scoring shots of the game, but the plucky Bombers kicked into gear halfway through the term, booting 5.0 to head into the first break eight points ahead.
But the SUNS swung the momentum back in their favour, looking to almost have the ball on a string for the remainder of the match, winning the disposal count 416-290.
The glimmer of hope the Bombers would have had at half-time of a comeback was snuffed out early in the third term, as the SUNS piled on eight unanswered goals to put the game beyond doubt.
2016 draftees Jack Scrimshaw (21 disposals, eight marks), Will Brodie (27 disposals) and Brad Scheer (20 disposals) showed their great potential, slotting nicely into a SUNS side that controlled the tempo and moved the ball with precision.
Brooksby, in tandem with the returning Dan Currie, helped give the SUNS midfield first use of the ball, winning the hit-outs 56-40.
Coach Stephen Daniel was rapt with the victory.
“We were probably a bit disappointed last week to be honest with you…. We felt this week we really had to make amends,” he said.
“Redland were terrific (in the first quarter), don’t underestimate that, they certainly beat us in a number of areas and we wanted to address that.
“I just told the boys ‘let’s just hang in there, hang tough, keep our composure’, because last week we lost our composure a little bit when things weren’t going our way.
“One of our main focuses of course was contested footy, we certainly got beaten in that area last week so we were pretty disappointed with it and this week we ended up being plus 32 in the end.
“It was something we wanted to address and we certainly did. Really happy with that.”
Daniel praised his players, who stood tall following a difficult week on the whole for the Gold Coast football club.
“Keegan Brooksby played a great captains role. I think Darcy Macpherson was really good, he’s certainly pushing for senior selection at the moment.
“Ah Chee (20 disposals, two goals) came back and was great, Jack Leslie (10 disposals, two rebound 50s) down back was really great too coming back to us.
“Mitch Hallahan was probably our best player and Jesse Lonergan (31 disposals, six marks), they were really pivotal those two boys right through the middle of the ground.”
GOLD COAST 3.4 8.6 16.11 23.14 (152)
REDLAND 5.0 6.1 9.4 9.6 (60)
GOALS
Gold Coast: D Macpherson 4, K Brooksby 4, C Loersch 3, C Ah Chee 2, L McDonald 2, M Hallahan 2, R Davis 2, N Kempe, J Grant, T McKenzie, J Schoenfeld
Redland: A Christensen 3, K Walsh, C Cameron, J Paine, C Walker, S Michael, A Williams
BEST
Gold Coast: M Hallahan, J Lonergan, D Macpherson, J Leslie, K Brooksby, C Loersch
Redland: H Bertoli-Simmonds, C Walker, C Cameron, A Christensen, S Cormick
