It might not have been played under the Gold Coast’s famous beach weather, but the GC SUNS did enough to outshine North Melbourne and register a spectacular victory at Metricon Stadium last season.
It was wet weather football at its finest in the round 11 match-up, with players from both teams putting their bodies on the line in an intense contest.
The Kangaroos led by as much as 25 points at the first change, as they kicked four goals to none in the opening term.
But the home side adjusted to the sloppy conditions much better than the Roos and broke the game wide open in the second quarter to mount a famous victory charge.
As he had done so often already in his new adopted city, Gary Ablett was the man to spark his team’s revival. The two-time Brownlow medallist led his side admirably as the SUNS piled on seven unanswered goals in the second period to establish a comfortable half-time lead.
Luke Russell produced arguably his best quarter of football during the SUNS’ second-term charge, while Ablett and Tom Lynch both impacted the score sheet with two goals apiece.
Trent McKenzie was a stand-out for Gold Coast, changing the game in a sweeping role off half-back with a nine-mark, 25-disposal performance.
Kangaroos stars Drew Petrie and Lindsay Thomas looked dangerous in front of goal, but lacked the same service given to the SUNS forwards at the other end.
The only sour note to come from the historic win was an ankle problem suffered by ruck-forward Charlie Dixon, who was substituted out of the match for Jack Hutchins in his first game back from injury.
A frustrated Kangaroos coach Brad Scott said after the match his team’s inability to execute the basics cost them an opportunity to boost their finals hopes.
"There's no capitulation, just an inability to do the fundamentals well," Scott said.
"Others can talk about it if they want but that's not an issue as far as I'm concerned."
Gold Coast SUNS coach Guy McKenna was thankful a poor start didn’t harm his side’s confidence to close out the game.
"Clearly that wasn't the way we wanted to start," McKenna said.
"The other clubs have had to put that pressure on North to get that result and that was clearly what we had to do after quarter-time.
"Certainly a couple of our dopey mistakes in the back half of the ground really opened us up but I thought after quarter-time the boys showed a lot of poise, resilience and, again, our ability to run out the game I thought was super."
GOLD COAST SUNS 0.1 5.6 7.7 9.12 (66)
NORTH MELBOURNE 4.2 5.2 6.2 8.3 (51)
GOALS
Gold Coast SUNS: Ablett 2, Lynch 2, Russell, Hall, Shaw, Harbrow
North Melbourne: Thomas 2, Petrie 2, Black, Gibson, Wells
BEST
Gold Coast SUNS: Ablett, McKenzie, Lynch, Prestia, O'Meara, Harbrow, Murphy
North Melbourne: Gibson, Cunnington, Thompson, Harvey
INJURIES
Gold Coast SUNS: Dixon (ankle)
North Melbourne: Nil
SUBSTITUTES
Gold Coast SUNS: Jack Hutchins replaced Charlie Dixon in the fourth quarter
North Melbourne: Will Sierakowski replaced Lachie Hansen in the third quarter
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Ryan, Chamberlain, McInerney
Official crowd: 10,891 at Metricon Stadium
